


Near And Far

by 3rdgenderfromthesun



Series: Venom Series [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cannibalism, Gore, M/M, Other, Politics, Prostate Milking, Separations, Tentacle Sex, Violence, Vore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 05:21:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 31,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17318798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3rdgenderfromthesun/pseuds/3rdgenderfromthesun
Summary: Eddie and Venom love their life. They get to free the world of evil, bring truth to the masses, and snack on the seedy underbellies of various big cities around the world. Too bad The Avengers have something to say about their activities.





	1. Chapter 1

A/N I hated Civil War and the sentient JARVIS plot so that's gone. I picked and chose from canon movie, canon comics, and my insane brain. I'm writing mainly from Eddie's POV and he doesn't love rich people so Tony isn't in the best light in this fic. Without quotes is internal discussion. With quotes is out loud.

 

A/N 2: It has been brought to my attention that two of my readers (that I know of) have need of auto-reading accommodations. For that reason I will be putting some notations in areas that will make their listening devices explain the mental dialogue better. Please be kind when reading my stories.

 

 

“There is no evidence that the symbiote infecting Edward Brock survived,” JARVIS informed Tony.

 

“Yeah, I know that buddy, we've had this discussion,” Tony snarked, “But the downside of your programming is that you don't have the one thing that we humans use to infer data out of thin air.”

 

“I am indeed enabled with Wifi, Sir. You are aware of this fact.”

 

“I mean a gut, JARVIS,” Tony muttered as he booked a flight to San Francisco.

 

X

 

**V: This is humiliating.**

 

_E: You've got your ways, I've got mine._

 

**V: Your ways suck.**

 

_E: Your ways involve cannibalism._

 

**V: You say that like it's a bad thing.**

 

_E: It is a bad thing. It's literally one of the baddest things, V. In the words of Willy Wonka, it is in fact frowned up on in most societies._

 

**V: Wonka had a steady supply of chocolate. He didn't have to eat heads.**

 

_E: Well, you're not wrong there._

 

**V: Speaking of heads... heads up, Eddie.**

 

“Hello, welcome to Franco's, may I take your order?” Eddie asked meekly.

 

**V: Pussy.**

 

While Brock tapped out the order he made a few mental notes as well. The regional manager he was investigating was due to arrive at any moment. It had taken _weeks_ of working this shitty job, and he now had a brand new appreciation for the fast food industry and their workers. He'd be voting hell fucking _yes_ to any bill about raising their wages! If it weren't for Venom he'd be covered in burns, not to mention the back pain from constantly lifting heavy boxes, crawling around on a nasty floor to clean under equipment, scrubbing said nasty floor, and all the many layers of misery that was customer service.

 

Finally it was happening. The regional branch manager of the chain Brock was working undercover for walked in and looked right past him. Venom was an asset to undercover work. Despite Brock's face being all over the news- for various reasons- he didn't recognize him under the zit-faced mask that Brock wore. Venom's camouflage wasn't perfect, and people sometimes squinted at him as if trying to figure out why his face looked 'off', but it was enough to get by and meant he could infiltrate virtually any place... which only made his current job more humiliating.

 

The manager slipped into the office and Brock asked for a break. His supervisor gave him an Anneoyed look, but he'd been a model employee so the guy let him go early. He headed for the break area, grabbed his recorder, and slipped back towards the door of the office his other manager had gone behind with the regional honcho. The microphone was small, but getting it under the door would be a helluva trick. Queue Venom. He slid a tiny tentacle beneath with the microphone peaking out the tip like a cock with a foreskin.

 

**V: Foreskins are weird.**

 

_E: No they aren't._

 

**V: You think they are.**

 

_E: Humans have complicated relationships with their bodies. We're taught to be ashamed of parts of them. It isn't necessarily correct._

 

**V: Having been in more than one of your human bodies I can attest to your very accurate sense of shame.**

 

_E: Gee thanks, buddy. You're a real inspiration, you know that?_

 

**V: You are lucky to have me.**

 

Brock smirked a bit as the information was relayed to him from the other side of the door as if he were hearing it himself rather than through Venom's... whatever served as ears on him. Aural slime? Venom didn't like Eddie thinking that, but only grumbled about it rather than arguing outright. Their communication was complicated. Venom could 'think' words at him or project them out loud, but Eddie could only send him emotions and images. Outright thoughts were tricky to relay if he didn't do it out loud, yet Venom could be surprisingly intuitive. So Eddie often thought at him and hoped he got the picture, as it were.

 

Then the people on the other side said something that caught Eddie's attention since it definitely didn't jive with the corporate money laundering scandal they were expecting.

 

“What about Eddie Brock?” The big wig asked.

 

Eddie froze and Venom made an inquiring noise of surprise.

 

“What about him?” His general manager asked, “He hasn't shown up _here_! If he's even following the plot, he's at a different store.”

 

“He hasn't shown up at any of them,” The regional manager griped, “We've got to turn in results. You're sure you went through all your applications carefully?”

 

“Yeah, but what if he didn't apply under an obvious psuedonym? I mean, what's he going to be under? Eddie Broke?”

 

**V: AH! HAHAHAHAHA!**

 

 _Shut up!_ Eddie scolded.

 

**V: I told you that would have been a great name!**

 

_E: They're mocking it because it wasn't!_

 

“We have to make sure we hire him,” The regional manager insisted, “We won't get anywhere if we don't. The guy's completely underground. My own resources haven't-”

 

**V: Now?**

 

_E: Now._

 

They straightened up and opened the door, smiling at the occupants as his disguise melted away and he cocked his head to one side.

 

“You were looking for us?”

 

“JJ?!” The general manager choked in shock.

 

“Whoa,” The District Manager raised his eyebrows and looked at Eddie over his sunglasses, “That was actually pretty cool. Your suit might be cooler than mine. Is his suit cooler than mine?”

 

“I...” The general manager stammered in confusion. He looked humiliated.

 

“So we already have you on tape laundering money,” Eddie grinned, “And now we know you're looking for us. You want to make a statement? It might go better for you in court.”

 

“That's your pitch?” The regional manager grinned, “How did you have your own show? And what's with the 'we' and 'us'? JARVIS, who else is here with us?”

 

 **V: I do not sense another Symbiote?** Venom sounded confused.

 

 _E: That's what I was going to ask you!_ Eddie wondered, _Who's he talking to?_

 

“Do,” Brock corrected out loud, “I _do_ have my own show. Not did. Present tense.”

 

“Well, I'll leave the grammar to you. Science is more my speed. JARVIS doesn't sense anyone else here, but then again... you're not exactly alone... are you?” The man came closer and tilted his head in curiosity, “Can you _talk_ to it?”

 

Venom wasn't exactly a secret. Not after so many people had seen them flying through the city on a motorcycle, not to mention the rocket they blew up together was public knowledge. His boss- at the newspaper- had gotten the proof out, and was grateful as hell for the early and exclusive scoop. Now that Eddie had his show back and he was learning how to utilize Venom's abilities, he was all about undercover work and inside scoops. His boss was eating it up because Eddie's reputation and his value finally matched up. He was the guy who blew people's cover, and the viewers _loved it_.

 

Eddie decided he was creeped out enough, and if this guy wanted Venom he'd give it to him. So with an easy thought to his other, the view changed from looking _up_ at this douche bag to looking _down_ on him through Venom's enhanced sight. With Venom's eyes he could see that there were electronics running through the sun glasses he wore. What they did was harder to understand based on just a glance.

 

“Wow! You are _ugly_ ,” The Big-Wig Bastard spat out, eyebrows going up, “No offense, I mean, but wow.”

 

“ **What are those?”** They demanded, “ **They are not normal glasses.”**

 

“And you're not a normal... well, maybe with my friend group I shouldn't judge. Listen,” The man put out his hand, “Put 'er there. I'm Tony Stark-”

 

Their face divided to introduce themselves, as they often did, but that was where it went horribly wrong, because Eddie _really_ didn't like this guy, and his uncharitable feelings combined with his usual ' _don't eat this guy'_ undercurrents were confusing and frustrating Venom.

 

“ **We know who you are. WE are an INVESTIGATOR.** No, no, V, you can't say it like that. **We ARE an investigator!!** Yeah, but it sounds lame when you say it like that. **ANNE SAYS LAME IS A SLUR AND YOU SHOULDN'T USE IT!”**

 

“Are you... two? Okay?” Stark asked.

 

“ **We're fine,”** They growled irritably, mask sliding shut, **“You have found us. Now tell us, why you are looking for us.”**

 

“Oh, nothing big, nothing exciting, you're just hard to find. See, I've got this cute little thing going on- maybe you've heard of them- The Avengers?”

 

**V: What is The Avengers? Can you eat it?**

 

Eddie sent him images and for a moment Venom was excited, but Eddie corrected him, mentioning the Accords that were being brought up and the fact that Tony Stark was the unofficial leader-ish person who was also a money-hoarding bastard like Drake had been. Meanwhile Stark was mid-pitch, telling him about fancy digs and his tree-house or whatever.

 

Venom laughed, **“We are not THAT kind of hero!”**

 

“Yeah. I know,” Stark nodded, “That's why I'm here. We're looking at a messy situation coming up, and it's something that we're all going to have to deal with. Me. You. Every superhero out there. So that whole biting people's heads off thing? We're gonna need you to stop doing that.”

 

“ **And what would you have us do?”** They asked.

 

A staff member headed down the hall, saw them, shrieked, and ran. Eddie felt Venom's hunger in the back ground.

 

 _E:_ _Not a bad guy, lo-er-loser._

 

Eddie felt Venom internally flinch at Eddie's withdrawal of the L-word. Not the word loser. No, they were both very familiar with that term and fondly called each other it fairly often. They were still working through that _other_ L-word, and Eddie was repressing, suppressing, and ignoring.

 

“What I'm talking about here,” Stark interrupted their thoughts, apparently not done his pitch, “Is you coming to New York- just temporarily- while we do some research and see if we can find a way to make things easier for you. Maybe see if we can make your interests compatible with _ours_.”

 

“ **We know a great deal... about compatibility,”** They stated.

 

“Great! So tickets are on me, of course. First class to New York. Pack a bag and come by tomorrow morning to-”

 

“ **No.”**

 

“N-no?” Stark asked, his voice deeply offended, “What do you mean, no? This is an opportunity of a lifetime, pal. We have scientists and doctors who will treat you like the non-person entity you are. With respect and compassion. Maybe even find a way for you to live without bonding to a host. That's not just something you brush off. ”

 

“ **We are not _compatible_ with _you_ ,” **Venom retreated into Eddie who gave Stark a disgruntled frown, “You fucked with my job trying to get my attention. Now I have to tell my boss I was chasing fuck all for the last two weeks because of you. I don't appreciate that, Mr. Stark.”

 

“Well, I can certainly compensate-”

 

“You can't compensate my reputation,” Eddie poked at his chest, hitting something hard when he did so, “You can't fix my bosses opinion of me. I've lost _everything_ in the past because of a rich douche bag, and I don't intend to face that again. So I'll make you a deal: don't come near me or my career again and I won't _investigate_ you. And trust me,” Venom changed his face to match Stark's, “You won't see me coming.”

 

Eddie turned and walked away, leaving Stark staring after him with a very unsettling smirk on his face.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Eddie walked into his ratty motel room and let out a slow breath. He was angry, and when he was angry it effected Venom. He was growling in the back of Eddies' head, words like **hungry** and **kill** echoing through him to make his skin crawl and his jaw clench. It scared him, but it also drew him in. He wanted to hold and comfort him, and it resulted in him pacing the small space while holding himself tightly. Venom slid out of his body via his side and Eddie held him in his arms, a blob of black goo that was far smaller than Venom's real size and still connected to him. This was only a portion of him, and Eddie was quick to hold it tightly in his arms, bringing his partner to his face and pressing Venom to his jaw. Eddie often called him his pet dog in this form, but he hadn't registered a pet in his motel room despite the mess they'd likely make. Not that anyone noticed. Eddie traveled for work now, all around the world, and picked crumby places in barely legal buildings on purpose because they were invisible. Nobody noticed the residents here. They weren't worth anyone's time or attention. Eddie had the money to move to a nicer, more permanent place but this was better for sneaking in and out. He was on the top floor, with access to an outer stairwell that let him right up onto the roof and into the darkest and most dangerous parts of the city. This wasn't the only motel he frequented in San Fran, and he often visited Anne and Dan as well. That would have to stop now that Stark was tailing him. So far their odd movements had kept them safe, but that wouldn't last now that he had a proper fix on him. He'd probably had him followed, and even though they were good at dodging chances were he was being scoped in a way that they couldn't just _sense_.

 

The whole thing stressed them out.

 

“It's fine. It's all going to be okay,” Eddie reassured them both.

 

“ **Lied to us, Eddie!”**

 

“Yeah he did, the self-righteous prick,” Eddie growled.

 

“ **BITE HIS HEAD OFF**.”

 

“No, no, we can't do that, he's very powerful. He could destroy us.”

 

“ **HE ALREADY TRIED TO!”**

 

“No, he didn't. He succeeded pretty nicely in fucking with us, but he didn't try to destroy us. That guy is _Iron Man_ , V, he's got shit you have never seen.”

 

“ **Pussy.”**

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Eddie groaned and sat down on his sofa when the downstairs neighbor began to bang on the ceiling with a broom handle, “Listen, we're doing well. Three weeks back on the job. We gave him one good scoop after the Life Foundation. We blew this one, but that happens sometimes. These are big stories, not daily ones. We just have to fall back on the homeless story and we'll be okay for this week. We won't lose our job, okay? Then we'll get paid. Then I can afford tickets to... wait, we were gonna go to New York, damn it. Okay maybe we check out that job in Tokyo instead. Just for now. You'd like that, right? A nice fancy-ass hotel in Tokyo? Maybe find some Yakuza to eat?”

 

“ **You spoil us, my only.”**

 

Eddie was petting Venom like a cat, and his words brought him back to the present. He looked down at the flowing, marbleized coloring on his partner. Venom was a strange texture; something warm, smooth, and oddly mobile as if he were constantly sliding even when still. He looked and felt wet, but once the touch passed no moisture was left behind unless it was from his tongue, where Venom imitated human physiology enough to line up with Eddie's body. When Eddie had complained about drool during a slurping lick from Venom he had been firmly told that it wasn't saliva. It was a lubricating enzyme used to digest food. Eddie had countered that that _was_ what drool was. It had been quite the argument, but hadn't really gone anywhere, and Venom was still very interested in slobbering on him during meals.

 

“Right,” Eddie breathed, running his hand more firmly along his symbiote's form, “Dinner? Dinner.”

 

“ **Dinner!”**

 

“What are we having today?”

 

“ **Anything but french fries.”**

 

“You have my absolute agreement there.”

 

X

 

Dinner was always a long affair, and after eating Venom was calmer and nearly silent. With his other full of tatter tots and chocolate fudge: his newest favorite version of chocolate. This was the time that Eddie did his best work. Venom helped him do the research, but Eddie was the writer. He typed out an outline of his research on abuse of homeless in San Francisco, attached recordings, and sent it over to his boss. It wasn't complete, but he had a deadline to meet and he could always do a follow up piece later. In the end he let out a long, slow breath and leaned back into his couch and shut his eyes for a moment. He must have drifted off because he woke up with a start when Venom stirred in his brain.

 

It felt like anticipation, excitement that was thrilling through him with a tinge of nervous. Eddie had felt it twice in the four weeks since acquiring his partner and he looked down at his groin in horror. Great. Of course he had a hard on. After all, it had only been two months or so since he'd gotten off last. His depression after losing Anne, the job search being an issue, and then having a fucking parasite all added up to him not having come in quite a while.

 

The issue was, Venom found everything about his body _fascinating._ He enjoyed watching Eddie piss, shit, eat, and sweat. He thought farts were even more funny than Eddie did. At one point, because it was apparently fucking _hilarious_ , he'd given Eddie diarrhea just to watch him purge for a day. Eddie had figured it out and made him call it off after six hours. Just recalling that had his erection wilting. Venom's reaction was confusion and Eddie decided not to talk about it.

 

Eddie headed for the shower, setting it running and frowning as Venom grumbled irritably. He tried to direct Eddie to the toilet, tugging at his body, but Eddie pulled back.

 

“I don't have to piss, what are you doing?” Eddie scolded, rubbing tiredly at his face, “I want a shower.”

 

“ **You are full.”**

 

“Uh, yeah...” Eddie acknowledged, “It's uh... it's not piss, though. It's fine. The body... our body... it sort of... reabsorbs it. Or takes care of it while I'm sleeping.”

 

“ **Your body needs rest,”** Venom stated in an understanding tone, making Eddie nod in agreement.

 

“Don't worry, buddy, I paid the Netflix and Hulu subscription. You can watch to your hearts content while I snooze.”

 

“ **I've been watching Embarrassing Bodies.”**

 

“That doesn't shock me at all,” Eddie laughed.

 

Eddie hadn't bought much in the way of clothing since he'd acquired his symbiote, so V was all he was wearing most days. He made perfect clothes, and complained about the delay of going through them when Eddie wore them... and eventually tore them on his way out to save Eddie from whatever the hell was out to kill him. Usually the corner of that damn coffee table. Now, however, he seemed to be trying to cure Eddie of his libido. While Eddie had been brushing his teeth and waiting for the water to heat up his erection had started to fill again.

 

“V,” Eddie groaned, “This is getting painful. I don't need priapism added to the list of things you've done to me.”

 

“ **It's not me!”** Venom pouted, “ **You always blame me! Your body IS embarrassing!”**

 

Eddie squinted down at his dick, or rather the bulge hidden behind the clothing-looking Venom surrounding it.

 

“How about a clearer picture, V?” Eddie sighed, rubbing a hand down his face, “Besides, you know I like to actually feel the water.”

 

Venom's silken form slid away from him, making him shiver as desire shot up his spine. Yup. This one was _all_ his, and he wasn't able to will it away with putrid thoughts of Mrs. Chen's taquitos long passed. Eddie whined miserably, sadly shook his head at his offending member before climbing into the shower. He was determined to wait it out and hope it would just take care of itself at night, no matter how gross clean up would be. Anything was better than assailing Venom with his lust. They still hadn't talked about these things and he had no idea if Venom's kind even _had_ sex or if they just ate until they got bigger and divided in half. Eddie was leaning towards the latter.

 

**V: I _told_ you you were full, Eddie.**

 

“You,” He gritted out through clenched teeth, “Don't get to talk. Not about this.”

 

“ **What should I avoid talking about, Eddie? Anne?”** Venom teased, “ **Your penis swells when you think of her.”**

 

“I'd call you an asshole, but I'm pretty sure parasites don't have them,” Eddie panted, trying to block out the lust that was only more stimulated by the hot water cascading down his length. Maybe he should just... take himself in hand. Just do it. Venom had dealt with other bodily functions well, if with a bit of teasing, so he should deal with this as well. The problem was, it felt... _invasive_. Venom understood eating, but thought evacuating his bowels was shockingly wasteful even though he understood that 'food' did that in other species. What he couldn't feel in Venom's understanding, was sexuality. Venom wanted Anne back and had expressed it, but he seemed to believe it was to make them part of a collective. Another 'we' to add to their existing self.

 

Eddie's thoughts about potentially violating Venom had gotten him distracted enough to lessen his erection at last, but that didn't last because a sudden pressure flowed through his lower half. Eddie grunted, doubling over sharply as his ass clenched instinctively. His hand moved to his bottom, but there wasn't anything to grasp besides his own orbs. The pressure returned, this time lower down, and it began to repeatedly flex beneath his balls and taint. Eddie's was breathless and didn't recall falling to his hands and knees, but there he was on the bottom of the tub shaking with... pleasure? It wasn't pain, but it was so intense that he was having trouble catching his breath.

 

“V, what...” Eddie panted, “What's happening?!”

 

“ **I'm fixing it, Eddie.”**

 

“Well f-fix it faster!”

 

The pressure _increased_ , and Eddie hung his head, blinked water out of his eyes, and stared down at his dick in horror. It was hanging limp between his thighs and _leaking_ a steady, sticky stream. His overabundance of semen was being pushed out of his body. That was when it clicked as to what was happening. It wasn't some sort of sudden onset illness, it was _Venom_ and he was _milking his prostate_ to get rid of the 'fullness' Eddie was experiencing in his testicles!

 

Eddie knew better than to argue with his personal parasite when he was trying to do something that he had deamed necessary for the health of their body, so instead he did what he could to make it feel less foreign and scary. Namely, he took a firm grip on his cock and began to jerk himself to hardness and beyond. It felt as if it took forever but also hit him faster and harder than anything he'd ever experienced. He crouched on the shower floor and made humiliating sounds, grunting and gasping as his back went rigid and his body convulsed hard enough to hit his head on the shower floor. Venom cushioned his head, of course. He took care of Eddie in every way, like he always did. In _every_ way. Even when Eddie blacked out in the shower for the second time in their relationship.

 

Instead of waking up in the bath this time, he woke up in their bed, covered in Venom instead of a blanket and content to be so. Venom had thrown all the blankets and even the pillows onto the floor, irrationally jealous of anything covering Eddie's body that wasn't himself. His head was cradled in black ink and his body draped in warm, flowing silk. The laptop was playing and Venom was chuckling at the sight of Gordon Ramsey telling people off as if nothing had happened.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Venom's Voice throughout chapter.**

 

**While Eddie sleeps, I think. While my beloved's mind turns over uninhibited thoughts of me, of our shape, of us flying through the skies in ways even we are not able to do, while he lies soft and pliant within us, we think and we learn. Yesterday I learned about prostates and the danger of not emptying the seminal sacks regularly. We do not want Eddie to get prostate cancer, so we took care of his needs when he was unsure how to do so himself and yet...**

 

**Today I learned that Eddie is reticent to share his sexual urges with us. Why? Why is a question humans often leave me with. I care for Eddie's every need, and he for mine, and we for us. Why not this one? He was so hesitant that I did not realize that he was unsure of sharing himself until we had begun.**

 

**Sometimes 'I' and 'we' become... confusing. Sometimes those words are too small to fit our definitions. Sometimes we are so big because we are two beings but also one that it is overwhelming. Sometimes we are... scared... and sometimes I scare Eddie. Today I scared Eddie, but I also made him feel good. Eddie has been frightened by me before- by us- and in the end his love of adrenalin and truth has always won out. We are confident that this will be the case.**

 

**In the mean time, we learn. We study and broaden our minds, finding information for Eddie while he rests and we remain constantly vigilant.**

 

**Like Mad Eye Moody.**

 

**I am Eddie's eyes and ears and the wings that let him fly and the shield that blocks bullets and he is my artistic beauty, painting magic across laptop and television screens. Helping the helpless while I eat those who would prey on them. We are life and death, beautiful moon and devastating tide, prose and the hunger that drives it.**

 

**WE are Venom.**

 

**[ http://www.comicsbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/tumblr_inline_pgrc2aN9nl1rpqds1_500.png ](http://www.comicsbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/tumblr_inline_pgrc2aN9nl1rpqds1_500.png) **

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

“I hate this song,” Eddie whined as the song [Wendigo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOFotOkWwH8) by Sharon Needles played in his head via his link to Venom.

 

 **Liar _,_** Venom's voice echoed in his head and something hot and wet slid along his jaw even as an approximation of fingers slid between his digits pinned to the wall. He could feel more forming at the back of his other hand, the one hurriedly fisting his cock, and just as panic was setting in arousal finally won out. His legs nearly gave as he came with a strangled shout and a long, low moan. It wasn't a forced orgasm this time, brought on through nearly overwhelming prostate stimulation, so it wasn't tempered with discomfort as it had been before.

 

 **Eddie!** The shout in his head made Eddie jump, **What was that? We liked it!**

 

“Well, yeah,” Eddie wheezed, wobbling where he stood, “Geez, I think I could go again. I've been playing hard to get for too long.”

 

**YES!**

 

“Wait...” Eddie groaned, his cock not losing any of its firmness.

 

The fingers slid fully between his own digits and his arm moved without his volition. Pleasure, just a bit too much, somehow just right, exciting because it didn't feel like his hand, because it was partly Venom touching him and he was hopelessly, helplessly in love with the monster inside of him. He couldn't fault Venom his curiosity and enthusiasm. He was aware of facts but oddly static on things like morals and opinions. Apparently he wasn't in the part of the brain that was good at reading situations. Instead he was all impulse. And that impulse was chasing orgasms, cupping his balls, rolling them, rubbing the taint behind them and making stars burst behind Eddie's eyes. It was so different from direct prostate milking, but also so very intimidating. He didn't want to force V to do this, and he was only acting on it because Eddie wanted to come after a week in Tokyo staring at pretty women being trafficked for sex. He felt like he was using Venom, but also couldn't stop the desires and Venom didn't understand Eddie's reluctance to utilize him for release.

 

“Oh, fuck, V!” Eddie moaned desperately.

 

“ **Yeeeesssssss!”** Venom hissed, dangerous teeth moving along his throat as a tongue laved his sensitive skin. Eddie leaned back against the strong support of his other, knowing that Venom's partial form behind him would simply extend to hold them up. He went limp in Venom's grip as his release slid down his shaft and coated both their digits.

 

Symbiosis.

 

Venom claimed they were one, so was their accumulated pleasure, which Venom seemed to feel as well, _actually_ wrong? Or were those the echoes of Sister Mary Bitchington who made his life a shameful hell all through puberty?

 

Venom took him over and walked them out of the bathroom and into their comfortable bed, absorbing the water that was on his body... and probably the come and sweat, too. Eddie had noticed that they didn't actually _need_ showers. Venom ate any bacteria that was on his body, including the ones that created bad body odor. He ate parasites in their hotels as well, making bed bugs, cockroaches, and fleas a problem for other humans. Eddie never even noticed them, but Venom had mentioned them in passing as 'snacks'. It was gross but also amusing to him. Much of life with Venom was like that.

 

“ **That was enjoyable Eddie. What was it?”** Venom asked happily.

 

“Uh... it's a form of reproduction,” Eddie stammered.

 

“ **Are you ready to divide? I have felt you longing for children with Anne! We must find a host for our offspring. We will raise it to be an anti-hero. Like us!”**

 

“Divide? No. We do... _that_... for fun most of the time. Like practice for dividing. Except we need someone of the opposite sex to reproduce. Is that what you do? Divide? Do you use a host for that? Or do you need another symbiote?”

 

“ **We need only ourselves and a viable host to divide. We will do it when we are ready to seed.”**

 

“Oh yeah? Well, you let me know when that's gonna happen, okay?”

 

“ **Sure,”** Venom replied casually, **“If you really need to know.”**

 

“Yeah, I'd like to know about my babies. Okay, so we're done here. Time to record our findings. You know what that means?”

 

“ **I curl up and shut up.”**

 

“That's right, buddy. No making me say or do weird shit on camera.”

 

“ **Copy.”**

 

Eddie chuckled lightly and sat down, nodding as Venom formed the outfit he was thinking about. Eddie set up the camera, ring lights, sliding down a folding backdrop that was actually a painted projector screen he'd found in his dad's garage after the guy had croaked. He checked his image in his camera's little screen and nodded. With Venom he always looked professional when he needed to and now was no exception. A nice, crisp black jacket, black shirt tight over his well-defined chest, and a pair of black jeans. He looked like an investigative reporter again. He looked like Eddie Brock.

 

“Oh, baby, you make me look _good_ ,” Eddie cooed.

 

Venom purred beneath his skin, the extension on the outside of him that formed the clothes only a part of his beautiful symbiote. Eddie squashed those thoughts. It was one thing to get each other off, but if he started talking love he was going to get hurt again. Venom didn't understand love. He understood hunger and satisfaction. Health and death. He had wanted Anne back because Eddie's hormones changed around her: his serotonin levels would drop when he thought of her and rise in her presence. That had changed over the last month together, and Venom had commented on it and then stopped asking about her once it had. He'd moved on. He could move on again, in a more permanent way, and Eddie would never recover if he lost his precious other.

 

Venom slid a tendril out and tapped record and Eddie's face transformed from one of fondness to bitter anger and sorrow.

 

“This is Eddie Brock with The Brock Report, reporting to you from Tokyo Japan. We all know the beauty and grace of Geisha's, but colonial insurgence has perverted this once noble art into a system of abuse and-”

 

The end of their stay. Eddie's story sent via a secured link to his boss in San Fran, and their flight booked. Eddie checked out of the hotel and made his way to the airport via taxi. Venom was feeling extra cuddly- or Eddie was- because he had their fingers folded together beneath a coat that Eddie had folded over their joined hands. They walked through the airport, put their bag down on the belt to be scanned, dropped the coat in another bin once Venom had melted back into Eddie's body, and then walked through the metal detector. It went off. Typical. Whatever Venom was made of it always set off the detectors. Eddie ended up being pulled aside by the TSA as they ran a wand over them and then insisted he strip.

 

Also typical, and why he always wore clothes to the airport since the first time this had happened he'd had to miss his flight since he couldn't exactly _remove Venom_ from his body piece by piece. He'd pretended to be an offended business man and told them he didn't consent to a search and would go to a different airport. He'd had to forfeit the ticket cost. He was more careful after that. Eddie stripped, tolerated the annoyance of being examined, and then was sent on his way with more than a few wary glances. He muttered about shrapnel, but they obviously didn't believe him.

 

The plane ride was always difficult. Venom curled up tight in Eddie and screamed through the pain of take off. Once in the air it was easier, but Eddie always looked like he was suffering from illness on every flight. They could manage it, but it was awful for them. Only the safety of eating regularly by hiding their movements enticed Venom enough to continue the pursuit. That and Eddie thought he might also enjoy the thrill of the investigation.

 

“You're gonna be okay, buddy,” Eddie soothed, rubbing at his belly gently. The passenger next to him shifted away a bit and then handed him a sick bag, “Thanks.”

 

V: **Are you sure about New York, Eddie?**

 

_E: I mean, it's a longer flight but we're definitely gonna need to do another story, so..._

 

V: **You wish to keep us away from Anne and Dan.**

 

_E: Yeah, I do. You okay?_

 

V: **We hate planes.**

 

_E: I know, buddy. Just stay inside me, okay?_

 

V: **Our bond is complete. Loud sounds can no longer separate us.**

 

Their bond becoming genetic was how Venom had survived the firey fall from the rocket, although it had taken even the symbiote by surprise. He hadn't realized just how intensely he'd attached himself to Eddie until he regained 'consciousness' inside of him after expecting to die.

 

_E: Yeah, I know. Thanks buddy. Guess I needed the reassurance, too._

 

Venom sent him such tender emotions through their bond that Eddie had to close his eyes or he'd tear up. A seratonin release. Venom did that when Eddie was upset and Eddie's brain translated it as 'love' even though he wasn't sure that Venom's consciousness did. He wondered often how much Venom could feel, and how much of what he felt was also something he understood. He wouldn't ask. He'd never ask. It was too risky when his amazing and unique symbiote was tied to a _loser._

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Trump towers had massive security since Trump had become president, all in an attempt to stop people from bombing the shit out of it. When the prez himself was in the building it was crawling with far too much security and Eddie wasn't about to risk them facing off with the secret service. Sadly, he and Venom had also agreed that fucking around with famous people- in a head eating way, at least- was a surefire way to get caught. So he was determined to make things difficult for America's fascist dictator in a different way. So they showed up at a time when the news reported that both he and his family were elsewhere.

 

Eddie climbed the building beside Trump Tower, but it was far lower than the actual New York building, so they jumped to the actual building fairly soon. From there it was a quick climb to the top with Eddie keeping his eyes tightly closed while Venom teased him for his continuing fear of heights. Since they would get more attention by making it OBVIOUS that they had broken in, they didn't try to hide their entrance and slammed through the glass of the top story window right into Trump's gold penthouse. The more people knew that someone had broken in the more likely that anything they reported would be taken seriously. No alarm sounded, but they knew that at least a silent one would go off and alert the occupants, perhaps even the President in Washington, D.C., to their intrusion. They happily rummaged through the rooms they found, locating Trumps office with ease and mocking his décor as they searched.

 

“ **Look! His toilet really is golden!”**

 

“So are his showers!” Eddie laughed.

 

“ **Eddie, if they weren't then they wouldn't match,”** Venom scolded, “ **Ann says things have to match. That is why we wear all black.”**

 

“Oh, buddy, no, it's... it's a joke! Nevermind. You _really_ don't wanna know!” Eddie laughed.

 

“ **Tell us!”** Venom ordered.

 

Eddie was laughing too hard to reply, but that laughter stopped when they found a file. It wasn't even the one they'd been _expecting._ They'd known they'd find horrible truths here, but _this?_

 

“ **WE WILL EAT HIM AND SPIT OUT HIS VULGAR INNARDS ACROSS THE STUPID GOLDEN TOILET!”**

 

“Loving your new-found compassion for kids, V, but we can't do that and you know we can't.”

 

“ **YOU ARE HURTING!”**

 

“Yeah, I am,” Eddie replied softly, “And this is gonna hurt for a while, but we gotta get out of here. Is there anything else worth taking?”

 

They fished for a moment, but most of it was too incomplete to bother with. The one they had, however, now that was as golden- and as cold- as his fucking tower. They left quickly, sliding down the side of the building so fast that Eddie temporarily forgot his rage and dismay at the evidence they'd found. They got themselves to the next building and leaped away.

 

When they reached their motel they sat down on the bed and put their head in their hands. Eddie felt Venom slowly shift away and back, leaving Eddie 'clothed' around his torso but using enough of himself to create a figure behind him. Big arms wrapped around Eddie's shoulders and a chin settled on his shoulder.

 

“ **I do not understand your distress. For us... for my kind... our children are just part of the collective. We divide. They move on. I have become... confused by your attachment to your own kind since coming here. I know that if I were to divide now it would be different. I would need to protect my offspring, to make sure it were guided, much as I have made sure that Anne is safe. For you, Eddie.”**

 

Eddie let out a slow breath, blinking away tears and trying to focus enough to give his troubled symbiote some kind of guidance as his emotions roiled in his brain. It had been hard researching things in Japan. The women there were at least _adults_ , even if they were just as unwilling as the children being funneled to Russia from concentration camps on the southern border. Also he'd been able to _do_ something about it. He'd been able to kill over twenty of the bastards running the ring. Here in America, the concentration camps were signed for and paid for by his own taxes. His own leader had them set up and was at least aware of, if not complicit, in the abuse of the children in the camps. The parents were deported and the kids... the kids were 'adopted'. Adopted by Olga Polonskaya and her ilk and sent to Russia where perverts felt less guilt when they hurt babies with brown skin.

 

“I wish... I wish I could march into the Whitehouse and just... Just let you go full Hannibal Lecter on their asses. I'd never lose a day of sleep.”

 

Eddie could feel a moment of worry and pain from Venom, probably his acknowledgment that Eddie wouldn't sleep that night. It wasn't the first time a story caused him to lose sleep. Venom had tried various ways to soothe him to sleep, but in the end it was either flood his brain with hormones to knock him out- which only produced more intense nightmares- or let him talk it out. Venom's silence let Eddie know which he'd chosen and he took a deep breath and began to talk. He talked about his own childhood, acknowledging that it wasn't as _bad_ as what these kid's were going through. ( **V: Nonsense, Eddie. How could it be measured by good and bad? That would mean there were a good side to abuse. It is ALL bad. All harmful. All pain.** _E: Where'd you get that from, Oprah's Book Club?_ **V: A blog.** _E: Figures.)_ He discussed other cases that had hurt just as much. He talked about his sister blaming him for his mother's death, until eventually Eddie had just... not bothered anymore. She'd died of breast cancer a year ago and he'd not gone to the funeral. His father had called, but Eddie hadn't answered. No message left.

 

“These kids miss their parents and here I am ignoring mine.”

 

Venom made a growling noise and tightened his grip on Brock as they lay spooning on the bed, one long 'leg' between Eddie's to give him the impression of being held by a fully formed person instead of one sprouting out of his back.

 

“ **You will not go near that man!”**

 

“Geez, yes, Mr. 50's Husband.”

 

A moment of silence and Eddie's stomach twisted up in fear even as his heartbeat fluttered wildly. He'd just called Venom his husband _out loud,_ and Venom felt his emotional horror and his body trying to pull away. Venom gripped Eddie tighter, unwilling to let him flee even though actually running from him wasn't possible.

 

“ **Eddie... I do not understand... We are one, Eddie. We are-”**

 

Venom froze and Eddie felt panic become a very real presence in his chest, but before he could question or protest or make up an excuse Venom was encompassing him completely and taking over their body. They bolted through the bathroom door and slammed it shut in time for an explosion to take out the front of their motel room. Dust and bits of glass bounced beneath the door and Eddie yelped in alarm.

 

There was no where to go in the bathroom, but they'd avoided the torture of a flash grenade to Venom's systems. Now they just had to get out of their trap without getting hit by however many came flying their way from then on. Venom burst through the door with a scream of outrage and started swinging. Bodies flew and Brock lost count of how many people he encountered- or who they were- as they fought their way out of the building. His primary thought was that the Feds had found them, but when they leaped off the balcony and onto the ground it wasn't government uniforms that met their eyes, but one massive green body glaring at them in pure outrage.

 

“Oh, crap,” Eddie wheezed.

 

“YUCKY BLOB!” Hulk roared, and made to grab for them.

 

Venom dodged backwards, “ **Who you calling yucky, you great green fuck?!”**

 

_E: V! Don't insult the giant superhero!!_

 

 **V: HE STARTED IT!** Venom protested, and then finished out loud, “ **APOLOGIZE!”**

 

Hulk's response was to roar with frankly shocking volume, irritating Venom immensely. However, they could no longer be separated by mere volume so his efforts were...

 

A distraction.

 

A distraction for a sudden and absolutely devastating wave of ultrasonic sound waves to be powered at them from three sides by two people who had moved in behind them and a red-headed woman who had appeared on Hulk's shoulders. The problem was, _it worked._ Eddie screamed in agony as Venom was shook off of his body, falling to the ground in a puddle of tortured slime where he writhed in agony.

 

“STOP!” Eddie screamed, dropping to his knees and ignoring his bleeding ears as he tried frantically to scoop Venom into his body again, “STOP! PLEASE! WE SURRENDER! WE SURRENDER!”

 

He was still shouting long after they'd actually stopped, but his hearing was _gone_. All he knew was that Venom suddenly surged forward and wrapped around him again.

 

**V: How, Eddie?! We are bonded! Nothing can separate us again!! NOTHING!**

 

Iron Man's boot caught Eddie's eyesight before he knelt down in front of them. Words flitted across the mask and Eddie read them reflexively.

 

WE HAVE BROKEN YOUR GENETIC BOND WITH THE SYMBIOTE. COME WITH US IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET ARRESTED BY THE FBI AND YOUR SYMBIOTE TAKEN BY THEIR LABS. WE WILL NEGOTIATE. THEY WILL NOT.

 

Eddie felt his stomach sink and nodded miserably.

 

**V: NO! We can't surrender!**

 

_E: We don't have a choice, V. They've done something to us. Maybe in the smoke or something delayed from the restaurant, but whatever it was, we're hurt and they did it. The best way to find out how is to go with them. The answer will be in Stark Towers, and believe me, that's nothing like breaking into Trump Towers._

 

Venom was silent on that matter, but Eddie wasn't feeling much like talking, either. He got into the big ass SUV/tank/not-legal-for-road-vehicle they'd brought along and sat in the seat with his arms wrapped around his belly and touching his sides where his trembling other lay within him, and tried not to let his utter despondency show on his face. The woman mouthed something at him from where she sat with that damn sound-gun pointed at him. It looked like 'you're naked' but might have been a recipe for banana bread for all his fucked up ears could tell.

 

“CAN'T HEAR YOU! YOU FUCKED UP MY EARS!” Eddie intentionally shouted. It must have really been loud because she grimaced and looked away.

 

By the time they got to the tower, an hour drive, Venom had collected himself enough to form clothing around Eddie's body and heal his ears. He listened in silence even as he pretended continued deafness.

 

“-Once we get that done we'll have to continue to focus on the Accords.”

 

“We're not actually taking that seriously, are we?” Captain America asked, “They can't do that to us. We're heroes.”

 

“Not all of us,” Iron Man reminded him, “Some of us have less than savory pasts. Some of us made weapons at one point that killed innocent people. Or tore through entire cities. Or were assassins. Or had friends who worked for-”

 

“Yeah, I get it,” Cap hushed him, “The point is, the Accords will never make it through legislation. The People won't stand for it.”

 

“The people suggested it,” Stark argued.

 

“Some people,” Black Widow cut in, “Can hear again.”

 

“So?” Stark asked, redirecting his attention to Eddie and Venom, “How you feeling, champ?”

 

“ **Hungry,”** Venom spoke through Eddie.

 

“Yeah, I hear you've got quite the appetite,” Stark nodded, “Enough of an appetite to put your host here away in prison for life.”

 

“Is that what you're doing? Citizen's arrest?” Eddie scoffed.

 

“I work for the United States Government,” Captain America spoke up, voice harsh unlike his ridiculous recruitment videos, “I am not _just_ a citizen.”

 

“You're not a soldier, either,” Eddie replied softly, “Soldiers don't wear flashy colors and fight one-sided battles. They work as a team, follow orders, and give their lives for their country. You don't even know the country you're fighting for anymore and I'm not sure you could die if you wanted to.”

 

Steve looked away and Venom mentally tallied Eddie a point.

 

“Spoken like a true emo,” Black Widow gave him a half smile, “I'm Natalia, by the way. Sorry for-”

 

“ _We're_ not interested,” Eddie stated flatly.

 

**V: Oh! Burn! Look at her face! She was not expecting that!**

 

“Is that what you do?” Stark asked, “Your buddy is the muscle and you're the guy who talks your way out of trouble? You're a good journalist, I'll give you that, but you were sloppy today. There was a helluva lot of surveillance in Trump Tower. Possibly more than in my own towers. Trump's not just monitoring his place, other people are, too. People with thick accents and deep pockets, not to mention people with a sort of... Men In Black _joie de vie.”_

 

“I have no idea what the fuck you just said,” Eddie pretended. The dumb act had gotten him information in the past.

 

“You now have the Russian Oligarch, the President of the United States, the CIA, and the FBI all on your tail, and they all collectively and individually want your head on a pike.”

 

“That's... ironic,” Eddie grinned, “Head on a pike. Very ironic.”

 

“How so?” Stark frowned.

 

“Because during the French Revolution it was you guys- you rich fuckers who try to control everything and everyone around you- who ended up with your heads on pikes being paraded around the town square.”

 

“Don't conflate me having a lot of money with me being like other rich bastards. I'm my own kind of rich bastard, okay?” Stark frowned, tapping his chest and making the suit ring in the metal vehicle.

 

“Oh, I know,” Eddie nodded, “You're the kind who fucks with genetics. How'd you do it? How'd you separate us?”

 

“Well you see my whole evil plan started-” Stark snorted, “What do you think this is? You the hero? Me the bad guy? I'm not going to _monologue_.”

 

“You're totally going to monologue,” Natalia disagreed.

 

“Any minute now,” Steve agreed.

 

“It's really just a matter of getting you into his office and the proper setting for him to look powerful,” A heretofore silent man with a soft voice spoke up, “Oh, and to use his holographic displays. He loves those.”

 

“Sorry, who are you again?” Eddie asked.

 

“Dr. Banner, meet Mr. Brock and _his_ Mr. Hyde,” Stark introduced, “Which I suppose answers some of your questions, you see Dr. Banner-”

 

“Is a world renowned research scientist, biochemist, and genius in nuclear physics who has revolutionized the way we view and use gamma radiation and the entire genetic code. I've read every paper you've ever written. It's an honor.”

 

“You...” Banner gave him a half smile, “ _You_ know my work?”

 

“Not just a pretty face,” Eddie replied, gesturing to his mug.

 

The gun pointing at him revved up and he stilled, putting out a hand defensively, “Whoa, hey now. We're just talking, sweetheart.”

 

“Sweetheart?” She asked coldly.

 

“Pudding?” He tried.

 

“ **Don't anger the woman with a gun that can hurt us!”** Venom raged.

 

“Sorry, you're right, V. He's right. My apologies, ma'am, I'm just a bit rattled and I lashed out from being assaulted and abducting against my will. It was unkind and frankly uncharacteristic of me. I completely respect women and their contribution to the world as the strong beings they are. Really, I apologize to all of you. I'll just... stay quiet until I've calmed down. Maybe meditate for a bit.”

 

“What are you playing at?” She asked, eyes narrowed.

 

“Hmm, let's see,” Stark stated in a sharp tone, “He insults everyone but the geneticist, tries and succeeds to get a rise out of _you,_ of all people, and then falls back on 'I'm a docile victim of your shenanigans' as a defense? He's obviously figured out our entire plot! Oh gosh and darn!”

 

“A-ha!” Eddie pointed at him, “So you admit there's a plot!”

 

“There's always a plot,” Stark frowned, “It's just that you're not used to being on the evil side of it.”

 

“That's so weird, isn't that weird, V? We were just about to say that to _you_.”

 

Iron Man's face went stony, “We're here. Get out.”

 

The vehicle's door was opened by Captain America and they were marched through a parking garage, to an elevator where they endured a truly awkward ride up and into a huge office room. Eddie snorted at the sight of Iron Man's costume falling away and Tony Stark in a black turtle neck throwing himself down in a chair and spinning once before grinning at Brock.

 

“Really? You think this is intimidating?” Eddie mocked, “I've interviewed presidents, crime lords, rapists, murderers, and- yes- superheroes. You're just another rich dude in a suit with a shiny desk. Castro's is nicer, by the way. Just a tip-”

 

“We're not here to talk to you, Mr. Brock,” Stark interrupted, “We're here to talk to Venom.”

 

“ **We are Venom.”**

 

“Yeah, we know that, thanks buddy!” Stark spoke as if talking to a child, “So nice of you to visit. I hope we didn't rattle your goo too much. It's just that you're _kinda_ unstoppable, so it's go big or go home, ya feel me?”

 

“ **We would not 'feel you' if you paid us to,”** Venom scolded.

 

_E: Ooh! Burn! Good one, buddy!_

 

Stark chuckled, “We didn't exactly get off on the right foot, and frankly your host's opinions of wealth are seriously putting my dialogue at a disadvantage.”

 

“ **HA! His opinion that a minority of the population holding a majority of the wealth, while innocent people starve because of a capitalist structure that doesn't allow class movement is hardly an influence I would shrug off!”**

 

“You are right. You are absolutely right, which is why _I'm_ not going to talk to you. Bruce! C'mere buddy! Tag, you're it!”

 

Stark stood up and walked around his desk, patting Bruce Banner on the shoulder as he passed him to lean against the wall as if waiting for a bus. Eddie and Venom collectively blinked and waited for him to begin. This was... not what they had expected.

 

“Well... um... first off, I'm really sorry for the gun. I know that you're... well, you're driven by needs that we can't even begin to understand due to our very alien anatomy and social structure. You feeding on people... it's... it's not something you can help,” Banner walked around the desk and tapped on a wall, lighting up a display of charts that showed a human body and a glowing halo around it, “Without the phenethylamine in brains and chocolate, you can't maintain your physical health or even your mental capacity.”

 

“You worked for the Life Foundation,” Eddie spoke up, anger making his voice cold and quiet.

 

“No,” Banner shook his head, “But we did collect their data afterwards and... well, you don't exactly keep things together, you know?”

 

“What?” Eddie blinked rapidly. That sentence didn't make sense.

 

“You shed,” Banner stated, “That's how I realized that you had an actual genetic bond with your host and developed the gas that would separate you again. Whenever you've gotten shot or sliced or run through, little bits of Venom and Brock flake off. Some of your substance. Some of his blood, hair, or skin. In short, you've left samples of yourself all over the world.”

 

“Samples and evidence,” Stark stated, “Tying you to every single crime scene.”

 

“Because your code was changed by Venom you can't easily be matched,” Banner stated, “It's not recognized as human DNA anymore, Klyntar DNA is, well, alien, and no one really knows for sure that you're the only Klyntar on the planet... or where to find you. Your own boss has only tentative contact with you, and without real hard proof no one is going to cut you off from your finances.... well... until today.”

 

“Today, you broke into the most surveilled location in the known world,” Tony interrupted again, “And committed grand larceny. Images of Venom are all over the planet already, circulating and catching people's eyes. They want to know what you took. They want to know whose side you're on.”

 

“ **Our own!”** Venom snapped.

 

“Well... our is a bit subjective right now,” Banner gave him a pitying look, “Because I separated your DNA with that gas so... now Eddie isn't off the hook anymore. Now it's going to be pretty easy to match him at any crime scene he pops into in the future.”

 

“Only if they have proof it's me,” Eddie argued, “They'd need to have samples to compare it to.”

 

“Samples you gave when you interviewed previous presidents,” Tony pointed out, “The Secret Service is nothing if not _thorough_.”

 

“Your identities are sacred to you,” Eddie pointed out, “You'd really hand mine out? What gives you the right?”

 

“The afore mentioned people eating,” Tony deadpanned, “I get that you're an alien with alien urges, but that's a no-no here and Brock hasn't exactly been a good moral compass for you. More like a roulette wheel.”

 

Eddie felt panic rising, but he pushed it down. Venom was still recovering from that blast. They weren't able to fight of flee just yet. They had to stall.

 

“So what are you going to do, turn us in?” Eddie asked, “Like you so kindly pointed out, Venom needs chocolate or brains to survive. Only one of those are readily available in a prison.”

 

“Oh, we know,” Stark nodded his head, “And even a maximum security prison isn't going to hold him. He'd just leave and, completely fucked up from starving for however long, go on a rampage.”

 

“So we're at an impasse,” Eddie decided.

 

“Not really,” Stark reminded him, “You see, originally we were going to sit you both down and talk about how you were making things tough for our negotiations with the UN and the Accords, but that was before you caused us all sorts of very visible trouble. So now we're on Plan B, which involves gassing and separating you two. Or did you forget we're not here to talk to _Eddie_.”

 

“ **We will not be separated!”**

 

Banner tapped the screen and it changed to show a series of chemical equations, “Venom... do you know why Klyntarians are forbidden from keeping a host? Why you're told to... to _behave_ like parasites, even though your nature is symbiotic?”

 

Venom was silent. Shockingly still, as if frozen in fear. It almost made moving difficult.

 

“Why?” Eddie asked, fear starting to turn his stomach. Something was scaring Venom?

 

“Because,” Banner answered, not seeming to care that Venom hadn't asked, “Prolonged contact with the same host, for more than the week it takes to slowly consume them or the day it takes to quickly do it, alters the chemistry of the symbiote. Just like a symbiote can make their host feel happy or sad to suit their needs, the host can eventually manipulate the symbiote's emotions and thoughts. Sort of like... how your motivations changed over time from villain to anti-hero.”

 

Eddie's swallowed down bile as his mind replayed things from the past week in Tokyo. Moments being held tight in Venom's grip while the symbiote stroked his hard cock and brought him to a shaking climax. Symbiotes had no need for sex. No natural interest. They didn't reproduce sexually so there was no reason for Venom to ever seek out sexual contact or experience an orgasm. It wasn't like eating,something they had in common. It was like shitting for him. A useless, wasteful, messy biological response that Eddie had to subject him to.

 

“He might even be... making you do things you don't want to do,” Banner suggested, pity in his eyes.

 

“No way,” Eddie whispered, “You of all people? _You_ are against us being together? What about you? Your other's the one out of control, so you control him, right? You make him behave so he doesn't destroy entire cities. So is that bad? Huh? You want me to have let him get on that rocket and bring back millions of hungry parasites to consume this entire world?”

 

Wrong words.

 

Wrong phrasing.

 

Perhaps an entirely wrong choice in every way possible.

 

Eddie could _feel_ Venom recoil inside of him, feel his insult and horror and hurt and fear of being manipulated and forced to become something he wasn't. Then he felt it solidify into stubborn acceptance and Venom's body wrapped tightly around him, shifting the world downwards as they grew. The guns prepped and Eddie tensed for another attack of torturous sound.

 

“ **ENOUGH! We are one because we chose to be! Who cares what hormones in Eddie's brain have done to us? Are you not altered by oxytocin when you fall in love? Does it not control and change you into something better than what you were when you were alone?”**

 

Wrong words.

Wrong phrasing.

Perhaps an entirely wrong choice in every way possible.

 

Venom could feel Eddie suddenly wretch inside of him and had to pull away from the 'suit' version of them to focus his attention on calming his stomach and keeping his esophagus contracted.

 

_E: V... V, he's right. What we've been doing, what we've been... it's been poisoning you!_

 

“In my case,” Bruce spoke gently, his eyes concerned, “My other is the problem case. I'm the scientist. The brains. The one who creates, but he only destroys. On the outside, it would look like you two are the same. Eddie to Bruce, and Venom to Hulk, but that's not the case because we have to look at this objectively: not by human standards but by alien ones. Who was destroying their life and hurting their loved ones before you two met?”

 

“I was,” Brock whispered in horror.

 

“Who was following their collective purpose, procuring nutrients to prolong the species?”

 

“He was.”

 

**V: Don't listen to them!!**

 

“Venom isn't _evil_ ,” Stark spoke up, “He's doing what he was designed to do, and Eddie Brock _altered_ that. Good for us, not necessarily for him. The problem is, Venom's stuck on this planet now, and he's probably permanently altered. We can't return him in good conscience, because if he does revert to his natural state he'll just bring literal death upon us. However, if he stays here he's going to keep playing the roll Eddie Brock likes. Vigilante. Anti-hero. Lethal Protector. That would have been fine had Eddie not decided to bite off more than he can chew. Or... he could be given a choice?”

 

“A choice? What choice?” Brock's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

 

“Oh, not you,” Stark waved his hand, “ _You're_ going to jail. It's the only way we avoid a nuclear crisis thanks to your antics in Trump Tower. I mean, we would have handled this _way_ differently if you hadn't fucked _that_ up, but now turning you in is literally the _only_ way we save America and in case you hadn't guessed it, we're super into saving America. I mean, one of the Avengers is even _named_ after it, right Cap?”

 

Steve rolled his eyes, but didn't argue. He looked worried and that made Eddie worried.

 

“If I'm going to jail and V can't go, what happens to him?” Eddie asked, his voice cracking shamefully.

 

“He gets to chose a new host,” Banner spoke again, redirecting Eddie to his soft and kind eyes, “He gets to _choose_ one. And it just so happens that my analysis of your shed material isolated what the Life Foundation was too sloppy to find: I know how to find Venom the perfect host. No trial and error. No dead bodies. No hurting and starving him. He can just... slide right into a new home.”

 

“What's to stop the next guy manipulating him?” Eddie asked.

 

**V: Eddie, I don't like this.**

 

_E: I'm gathering info, buddy. Just go with it._

 

**V: I think you are lying. I think you are scared, but you don't have to be. You are MINE! We are safest and strongest together!**

 

_E: Buddy, they've already succeeded in getting us apart. Now it's about survival._

 

“Nothing can stop that, unfortunately,” Stark stated, “But we can limit how much control is executed over Venom- and vice versa- using a neural inhibitor. It stops the bonding process from being molecular which keeps him out of the brain of the host where the most hormones are located. He can live out a full life on earth in a host of his choosing and not be forced into detrimental and ill-thought out actions.”

 

A video played on the screen of them breaking into Trump Tower as Venom. They were laughing and pointing at things. They looked like kids committing vandalism, not like professional investigative reporters. Eddie felt shame creeping up once more.

 

**V: Eddie. He is right. We are not fully bonded anymore. I can't... reach your brain the way I used to to calm you.**

 

_E: Maybe that's a good thing._

 

**V: You aren't seriously listening to these clowns!**

 

_E: V. I'm going to jail. I have to. You heard them. The Russians will nuke us before they'll let the info we stole get out, and you won't survive there!_

 

**V: I AM NOT SOME FRAGILE CHILD YOU MUST PROTECT! WE ARE VENOM! WE ARE POWERFUL TOGETHER! WE WILL RUN AND-**

 

_E: And run. And run. And run. And run._

 

“You know,” Stark stated, “I hate to start sounding like the bad guy again, but if you're thinking of running... I wouldn't. We're separating you two, regardless of what you want. Eddie's going to jail, and Venom can't. That's non-negotiable. You can either do it willingly and go to a new host who will hopefully teach you right from wrong, or you can do it the hard way and we'll seal him in a capsule for the rest of his lonely life. Unbonded. Alone. Fed through a tube like the paralyzed prisoner he was at Life Foundation. Nobody wants that, Brock. Let him go. We'll keep him out of trouble.”

 

Venom felt sadness wash through them and squash the fear that was overwhelming him at the thought of being trapped once more. It was Eddie's sadness. His resignation. He had given up on _Them_ completely, and it was Venom's undoing.

 

Eddie felt the moment that Venom realized the argument was lost. The moment he knew that Eddie was reconciled, that there was no way out, that they couldn't even _run_ because those guns were pointing right at them and would tear them apart as painfully as possible.

 

“Who do you have in mind?” Eddie asked, swallowing down his tears.

 

“Happy,” Stark spoke into his wrist gadget, “Send up Spider Man.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

“I thought he wasn't going to be a vigilante anymore?” Brock snarked, not one to go down without a fight.

 

“Please, that's all hype. Besides, he's just one offer of many,” Stark stated, holding up a placating hand,“Someone similar to you in activities if not actions. He's a photographer by profession so if Venom really does like to do the whole reporter thing, it still can. Peter is a hero, it's true, but he's also the sweetest little sugar plum fairy you've ever met. A sort of... counterpoint to your buddy's blood thirsty vore flubber persona.”

 

The young man stepped into the room and Eddie watched his eyes widen in joy and idolization as Stark motioned him forward. He was going to get _crushed_ by Venom. Eddie was shaking his head before the kid even approached.

 

“Gee, Mr. Brock, I am such a huge fan of your work, I-”

 

“Don't touch me, kid.”

 

“Oh, uh, sure,” He nodded eagerly, not even offended as he retracted his hand and grinned at them happily, “When you broke that case on the Cista Corp's financial-”

 

“Venom will eat him for breakfast,” Eddie snapped, “You got anyone with a spine _not_ made of webbing?”

 

“Actually,” Peter piped up, his voice _cracking_ , of all things, “Webbing is one of the strongest materials in the world per square inch, it-”

 

“ **Nerd.”** Venom dismissed him.

 

Peter looked a bit hurt and Stark looked pissed, but he let out a slow breath.

 

“This is the closest applicant we have for you, V. Can I call you V?”

 

“ **No.”**

 

“It will take some time to-”

 

“ **He'll do,”** Venom stated.

 

Eddie felt sick as Venom walked them forward but, they were well and truly trapped, outgunned and out maneuvered. Eddie watched in slow motion as his hand moved out towards Peter's. Peter looked at him with big, wide eyes and-

 

Bereft.

 

Alone.

 

Cold.

 

He barely registered Parker's screams, Iron Man's shout, Banner's medical and scientific babble, or the moment when someone gripped his shoulders and started steering him away from the scene.

 

His chest was aching. It felt as if someone had ripped it out of his chest, leaving him hollow and bleeding, the last pulses of life only a torturous trick of the brain still functioning for a few dying seconds that allowed him to see his life fade away before him. It hadn't hurt like this when Anne had left. It hadn't hurt like this when his sister had died. It hadn't hurt like this when his father had drunkenly shouted at him that he was a murderer who had taken his mother away from he and Mary, and then thrown a beer bottle at his head hard enough to make it bleed. Even the pain of the sonic guns separating them hadn't hurt like this, and he'd been _literally_ bleeding from his ears.

 

“No,” Eddie wheezed, struggling out of the arms holding him.

 

“It's okay, son, just take a deep breath,” Captain America tried to soothe him, “Someone got a tissue... and some... clothes? Get this man some clothes. Hey, it's gonna be okay.”

 

“No, oh god, no,” Eddie turned back, struggling to take a step, a breath, to blink back the tears and snot coursing down his face, “I've made a mistake. I've made a _horrible_ mistake. I have to go back.”

 

“The only place you're going is jail,” Captain America spoke softly, regretfully, as if he didn't want it to happen at all, “I'm sorry, son. The Accords... we all make sacrifices for our country. If this stops them going through then... then it's the right thing to do.”

 

“No, I need him. I can't...” The room blurred and tilted and he saw the doors to Stark's office close on Spiderman staring down at his shiny new black suit, “I can't breathe.”

 

Blackness. Cold and unforgiving blackness. Then he was jarred awake and blinked at the world around him. It seemed so... gray and brown. As if he'd suddenly gone color blind. Everything was sepia with the blinding exception of his orange jump suit, and his back and head hurt. Eddie sat up and blinked around himself. He was in the back of a cop car and the siren was making his head hurt as he was sped away to an uncertain and hopeless future.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

Intake was more alarming when there wasn't plastic between him and the inmates. Eddie spent the first day numb, but not completely able to process what was around him. He moved on autopilot, doing what he was told and not moving more than absolutely required. Leisure time was him lying down in his bunk and staring at the one above him in horror and misery.

 

Then intake was over and Eddie was put into the main population with a bunch of hardened criminals and his time to mourn was shattered. It wasn't so much that he cared if he lived or died. He did not. The problem was that there were _other_ aspects that he required stay... untouched.

 

“Those lips would look real nice around my-”

 

“I'm in a relationship,” Eddie grunted out.

 

It was mealtime. Or what passed as it. Eddie didn't recall collecting his tray, although he certainly hadn't been waited upon. Yet there it was in front of him, a mess of orange slop and some sort of mashed white funk. It looked like baby food. Eddie frowned down at it and wondered if he'd dared to _eat_ some while he'd been preoccupied missing his beloved... his perfect... his only...

 

Fingers gripped Eddie's chin and tilted his head forcefully.

 

“I said-” The man growled, thumb running along Eddie's lips, “That you'll do what I-”

 

The human brain has a safety precaution in place. It tells the rest of the body to avoid harming itself by limiting pressure exerted upon other parts of the body. For example, the jaw. The brain says not to bite _too hard_ or the teeth might break instead of the item being bitten. However, Eddie had just spent a good several weeks with a symbiote who bit heads off for their nutritious brain goo... and for fun. The idea that he couldn't bite off a thumb was laughable. It didn't even cross his mind. Nor did chewing the tip in his mouth and swallowing it down while the man before him screamed in horror and his cronies backed away from him in horror.

 

“Just as tasteless as this slop,” Eddie grumbled, and turned back to his dinner.

 

They used a kit for overdosing to get the thumb out of his gut. It wasn't re attachable. Eddie got tossed into solitary confinement, which was horrible. Abso-fucking-lutely horrible. It was bad enough that it was quiet in his head, but in solitary he could barely even hear the rest of the people in the prison. No one snoring in a nearby bunk. Nobody talking to themselves nearby. Reading aloud from a book to combat the loneliness. Nothing. Just... the pervading emptiness within him and the settling of the building around him. Eddie spent his time in solitary screaming and throwing himself against the walls and door until he was released once more into GP.

 

No one bothered him after that and Eddie was left to mourn once again. As such, he completely lost track of the time up until he was summoned to the paid phones. Normally inmates could call _out,_ but no one could call _in._ Someone had bent the rules to contact him and Eddie felt a small blossom of curiosity in his broken heart. He watched as the guard handed him the phone and then quickly walked away without making eye contact. Eddie glanced at it, half tempted to hang up, before deciding that he might wonder late at night when the darkness- the cold and dead darkness so unlike the inky warmth he was accustomed to- was closing in on him.

 

“Brock here,” Eddie grunted out.

 

“ ** _Eddie.”_**

 


	8. Chapter 8

**V: STOP SCREAMING.**

 

_P: What are you doing? I can't breathe!!_

 

**V: What is happening? Why can I not move?!**

 

“Ahh! Okay,” Peter gasped, “Breathing now. Good. Breathing very good. O-okay, just calm down my dude. The inhibitor stops you from being in control of me, but, like, we can be friends? Partners?”

 

**V: I AM NOT YOUR DUDE! I AM EDDIE'S DUDE! … I can not MOVE! This was a trap!**

 

“No, hey, shh,” Peter tried to soothe him, “It's okay, Venom. Really! I'm one of the good guys. We'll do fun things together, okay? No risky business except for the saving people thing. You hungry? I bought, like, an entire backpack full of chocolate.”

 

Peter grabbed the backpack he'd brought with him, pulled his mask off and unzipped the enclosure. The pack was FULL of chocolates of all kinds and Venom was mentally drooling. Peter's hand shot out and he started ripping them open and shoving them into his mouth.

 

“Remind me to compensate the kid's allowance to cover increased food consumption. Hey,” Tony stilled, eyes narrowed as he studied Peter and his new suit, “You okay, kid?”

 

“Wow, this is so cool!” Peter Announced through a mouthful of caramel, “I can feel it metabolizing! I will literally _never_ get fat! Uh oh. What if I never get taller?”

 

“Enhancements are the norm for the symbiote, not derailing growth,” Banner explained, “You might have a growth spurt, just not a girth spurt.”

 

“It's _amazing_ , Sir! This is fantastic! I mean, your suit was amazing, no doubt about it, but _this_?! This is next level!!” Peter announced, flexing his arm and shooting a web, “No capsules? NO CAPSULES! This is legit part of me! I mean, us. Oh, dig the new logo!!”

 

“Oh good, I've always wanted to be made irrelevant by an amorphous, cannibalistic alien. Now remember, that inducer will protect you from being controlled, but you also can't control _it_. And if you don't earn it's trust it's going to choose someone else. You should be able to communicate with it. Can you?”

 

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Peter nodded, still flexing, “I think I gained muscles mass. Do I look more ripped to you?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Tony walked around Peter, frowning deeply, “You... sure you've got this under control?”

 

“No big deal, Mr. Stark! I'm golden!”

 

“Not you,” Tony corrected, “Bruce?”

 

“It should be working,” Bruce insisted, “Do you think it isn't?”

 

“I don't... know...” Tony stated softly.

 

“I'm gonna go test this out!” Peter/Venom shouted eagerly, “See ya, Mr. Stark!”

 

“Hey kid! Wait!” Tony shouted, but Spiderman had slung his web and vanished out a window without glancing back, “Happy! Get on him! Now!”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

“This was a mistake,” Tony growled angrily.

 

“Yeah, probably,” Banner agreed, nodding sagely.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Eddie's mind had been perfect, beautiful, his justifications and morals strong and firm. The bad must be taken down and the good preserved. His soul had been _pure_ , pure enough to cleanse a monster of his thirst for blood and violence. Well... nothing stayed clean forever.**

 

**Peter's _body_ was the prize in this host. Where Eddie's had needed a boost to get it in shape, Peter was almost _too_ healthy. It made snacking on unimportant organs easy. Like his appendix, tonsils, gall bladder, and a little nerve that led to the brain stem and the portion with the inhibitor in it. Peter barely felt it. His left arm went numb, but he quickly healed the damage and soon was cavorting around in his skull as nature and Klyntar intended. It led to an awkward conversation with that Iron Man character, but having experimented with human hosts in the past, and having spent over a month inside of Eddie, it was a simple thing to figure out how this human worked and how to control him. In no time at all they were out the window, flying through the air with ease. Peter almost forgot that they existed, because he was so very excited by the ease with which is new 'suit' moved. Venom let him have that comfort. He was content to slide into the back of his mind and bide his time. If Peter was so very innocent of what he had slowly healing inside of him than who was Venom to besmirch him? **

 

**It took time to get Peter to obey him completely. For a while he simply healed and ate while prodding him in one direction or another. This was easy for a few days, because Peter was so very ill due to the absorption of the symbiote. His impressive health sped it along and he presented only with ravenous appetite, a high fever, and a desire to stay home from school and soak in a tub of cool bath water while playing games on his phone. His aunt coddled him, but he was calmer about it than Eddie was since he knew what was going on inside of him.**

 

**Then the fourth day in his temporary host rolled around and Venom felt full control sink in. Spiderman, Peter Parker, the boy who would be Stark's son... sank away into the distance. He slept within Venom, softly providing him information so that he could continue his ruse, but when their lips moved the voice that came out merely _sounded_ like Parker. He was no longer the one speaking. It made it all the more surprising- and satisfying- when Eddie recognized them. **

 


	10. Chapter 10

“Hey, Mr. Stark!” Peter chirped as he breezed in through the window.

 

“Geez, kid! What have I told you about popping in unannounced? You're supposed to be at school,” Stark nearly dropped his stapler into his crotch- a move to be avoided for sure. Luckily he hadn't messed up the order of his damn paper work. Who still used paper? Honestly? Who? Wasteful climate abusers, that's who. Fucking corporate weasels.

 

“It's nearly midnight,” Peter countered in an innocent tone, “And I know you'll never admit it, but I'm totally sure you leave that window open for me. This place is a fortress otherwise!”

 

“Yeah, yeah, kid, what's up? Why aren't you in bed being a normal teenager and sleeping off all that chocolate you ate today?”

 

“Aw, you know about that? That's embarrassing. I can't believe I ate an entire three quarts of ice cream. Talk about a brain freeze! Ow!”

 

“Why? Are? You? Here?” Stark snapped, shifting away from his desk and turning fully to stare at Peter in his new costume.

 

The black was sharp but... it took away from that sweet young persona he had come to know. It didn't feel right. Something had felt off for days, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Peter didn't _act_ different. Not like Brock had after Venom had invaded him. But he also didn't feel... right. He felt angrier, as if he'd finally hit that teenage moodiness people talked about. Sometimes he'd catch him hissing something sarcastic under his breath or glaring at someone with murderous intent. Something in Tony's gut was screaming _get him out of this room, away from tech, away from everything, get away from him now!_ Yet... it was just... Peter. In an emo suit.

 

Peter, who was inspecting the window sill as if looking for a way in if Tony were to bar it and fully engage the security system that protected him from his enemies. The window he kept open for Peter- yes, it was true- because he wanted to be sure the little shit could reach him at any time since the symbiote had entered him and didn't trust Happy to be the perfect body guard he thought he was. After all, this new 'suit' didn't report back in to him like the last one had.

 

“I thought you said you'd keep wearing my suit underneath,” Tony spoke softly.

 

“I know, but it bother's Venom. He likes the freedom to move, you know? Besides... I know you use it to spy on me. Not cool, Mr. Stark.”

 

“I can't tell you how disturbing it is that I have a naked teenager in my office right now,” Tony went for jokes. He always went for jokes.

 

“I'm not _naked_. I'm wearing Venom!”

 

“You're wearing skin, which is like being in your skin, which makes you _and_ the symbiote naked in my house. How old is the symbiote anyway?”

 

“I don't think he measures time the way we do.”

 

“You don't... think he does?” Tony asked, “You mean you can't just ask him?”

 

“Well, no. We don't really talk like that, not like Eddie and the suit did.”

 

“I'd like to talk to him, actually,” Tony stated, leaning forward and pushing out of his chair, “Just for a few seconds.”

 

“That's just it, Mr. Stark,” Peter's hood slid back to reveal his worried face, “I don't think he _can_ talk to you. He's sort of... weaker? I don't think it's me, tho. I think it's the inhibitor.”

 

“We're not removing it,” Tony stated firmly.

 

“No, I don't want you to. Definitely not. If he craves human brains the way I crave chocolate now? Wow. Zombie apocalypse. I don't want that. I just... I kinda want more information, you know?”

 

“Okay,” Tony nodded, “I'll call Bruce and have him fly in to do a check up for you.”

 

“How long will that take?” Peter perched on a chair, taking on his characteristic pose and making Tony smile at him.

 

“Sit normal, kid.”

 

“Sorry,” He flopped down into the seat.

 

“Maybe a few days? He's a busy doctor.”

 

“What if we just called that guy we took him from and ask him?”

 

Stark blinked.

 

Peter blinked.

 

“The guy we... took him from?” Stark asked.

 

“Yeah. Eddie Brock. From The Brock Report. I loved his show, he-”

 

“Took him from?” Stark stated insistently.

 

Peter shrugged, “Got? Acquired?”

 

“Right. You wanna call Eddie Brock?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“What are you going to say to him?”

 

“I'm gonna ask him if this is typical. Like, what if it's sick or something, and too weak to tell me?”

 

Peter worried his bottom lip with his teeth and a bit of relief moved through Tony. That was pure Peter. Innocent and sweet. Determined to see the good in everyone even as he painted the world as black and white as his suit. The symbiote was his now, therefore it was good and probably needed help and some head pats. When he was older and more jaded Tony would worry less.

 

“Sure, kid, we can call him. Gimme an hour. The prison system isn't very friendly to chit chat.”

 

“Sure, I'm just gonna go out and get some burgers. You want anything?”

 

“Really? You're eating burgers?”

 

“Why... not?” Peter blinked.

 

“The symbiote wouldn't let Brock eat dead meat. Live meat or starches and sweets. That's it. We literally tracked him down via weird ass purchases of food.”

 

Peter frowned, “Well, now I'm really worried. I mean, I crave that stuff, but it's not all I eat. What if I'm poisoning him? Okay, no burgers. Some... uh... french fries?”

 

“Yeah, just... avoid any live lobster tanks,” Tony quipped.

 

“Why?” Peter asked, looking even more baffled and concerned.

 

“Never mind,” Tony laughed, although now he was _really_ worried. Venom should know his own history! “Tell you what. Stick around, I'll call up for some food. The kitchen downstairs makes some bitching fully loaded baked potatoes. I'll tell them to leave the bacon off for you.”

 

“Thanks, Mr. Stark!”

 


	11. Chapter 11

“It's you,” Eddie whimpered.

 

“ **I feel like we're on a first name basis,”** The voice on the phone continues, and it's not Venom's, but it _is_ , him. Eddie can feel it. He _knows_ it's his symbiote- his beloved- on the other line, past this stranger's voice. Venom is hiding himself and trying to give Eddie some kind of signal, but Eddie is shaking with an untold amount of emotions.

 

“You're the guy who knows my friend,” Eddie states, feeling like that is neutral enough.

 

“Oh, this is a secure line,” Tony butts in, “You can say Symbiote on here. Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, but Peter has some questions for you.”

 

“Peter, that's right,” Eddie replied, “I forgot your name. How is he? Can I talk to him?”

 

“ **He's sort of... quiet,** ” The too-soft voice replied.

 

“Quiet? What do you mean, quiet? That's not like him. V is anything but quiet, he's a loudmouthed asshole with an alien version of Oppositional Defiance Disorder,” Eddie babbles, honestly concerned. What if he _wasn't_ talking to Venom, but Venom Under Control of this Spiderman hack?

 

“ **Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. I had a question about your report on the Catco Takeover?”** Peter/Venom asked eagerly, high voice cheerful and excited.

 

“Catco takeover?” Eddie blinked, rubbing at his face and trying to clear the ennui enough to focus, “What do you wanna know about the Catco Takeover?”

 

“ **How did you do it? That was** _ **pre-Venom.**_ **How did you get into the building, get the reports, and get out unseen? Everyone said they never saw you in there, and they never found a snitch. So was it a snitch? Or did you already have a way of disguising yourself** _ **before**_ **you met Venom?** ”

 

Eddie was silent a moment, turning that past case over in his head and trying to figure out how that had to do with Peter Parker, Spiderman, Ironman, Tony Stark, all the different people and their aliases involved.

 

“Why don't you ask Venom?” Eddie asked, “He knows everything I know, which means you should know everything I know.”

 

“ **Well yeah, but... I don't,”** Peter/Venom replied, “ **I don't know everything, Eddie. That's the other thing I called about. I can't hear him. He's... quiet.”**

 

“Maybe it's the inhibitor,” Eddie suggested, anxiety making him lose focus for a moment, “Maybe you're hurting him.”

 

“ **Maybe,”** Peter/Venom acknowledged, “ **I can feel him, though. So I know he's still there. Still alive.”**

 

“What's he feeling?” Eddie guessed, finally understanding where his other was going with this conversation. The best reporters asked the _leading_ questions. Their sources never knew what was given away.

 

“ **Sadness. Such deep, debilitating sadness and loneliness. He misses you, Eddie. You were his other half and you're gone.”**

 

“I couldn't stay,” Eddie replied miserably, “I wanted to, but- Never mind that. It's a pointless... Can the inhibitor be removed?”

 

“ **Yes, I suppose, but it's not a good idea. Mr. Stark says it keeps us from messing with each other. That's good for Venom too, right?”**

 

“Well, I suppose. If it really keeps you from messing with each other?” Eddie tried again.

 

“ **I have no proof it doesn't. Would he give me a clue if he were being forced to do things he doesn't want to do?”**

 

“If he could talk he sure as hell would,” Brock pointed out, “I think you need to find a way to talk to him.”

 

“ **How could I do that?”**

 

“He communicated with me inside my head, but the inhibitor keeps him out of yours. Maybe you could temporarily let him crawl in someone elses body. Someone without an inhibitor. Just long enough to talk. If it were someone incompatible it would take a few seconds of 'hey, I'm fine' or 'nope, new host please', and then back out again before damage occurs.”

 

“So you want us to find a guinea pig for your science experiment,” Tony stated, “Thanks. That's all I needed to hear.”

 

The call cut off and Eddie swore angrily. He was pretty sure he knew what Venom had been getting at, but it was entirely possible he'd just given their plans away entirely.

 

_E: Not our plans. His plans. I'm out of the equation now. Sitting on the sidelines. Warming the bench. Being utterly fucking useless, just like I was after Anne. My entire point in life is over._

 

Eddie hung up the phone and paced away for a moment, but was soon being corralled back to his cell. In that time his brain began to outpace his tired, hungry, distressed body and he began to really _think_ about what Venom had said... and not said... and hinted at. Eddie smiled as he stepped into his cell and the door slammed shut behind him. He stretched, flexed his muscles, and cracked his neck. Venom had kept him 'healthy', if by healthy one meant with a six pack and boosted muscles. It wasn't natural. One didn't just wake up that way. It wasn't what Eddie would even call the perfect body if he were pressed to describe one, but it was what _Venom_ had wanted Eddie to look like. Enhancements, Stark would have called them.

 

Well.

 

Better keep the house clean and in good repair for his symbiote to return to.

 


	12. Chapter 12

“There are sound amplifiers all through this room, do you understand me?” Tony stated.

 

“I... I think I do?” Peter replied, eyes wide and innocent, “Is something wrong with me, Mr. Stark?”

 

Fuck, he sounded like such a scared little kid.

 

“What are your senses telling you?”

 

“That you're a threat,” Peter stated, and- fuck him- blinked back _tears_ , “I don't want you to be a threat, Mr. Stark. If you just tell me what I did wrong...”

  
“You didn't do anything wrong, kid. I'm pretty sure that inhibitor isn't working correctly.”

 

“Then Eddie Brock is right? We need to check on Venom.”

 

“No, we need to check on _you._ The good news is, he can't leave on his own. If he could than he wouldn't be sending you hints to switch bodies willingly. I'm betting that you're keeping him in check, but he's influencing you. It's going to take a few days for Banner to get here. In the mean time, I need you to be level with me: Are you okay?”

 

“I'm fine, I'm just freaking out about you freaking out right now,” Peter replied.

 

Tony stood up, sighed as if much put upon, and walked around the desk to comfort his protege... and test him. If Venom _were_ capable of jumping hosts at will than Tony was prime cut. He'd be eager to get to him, but too weak to move independently. So Tony tugged Peter to his feet and wrapped him tightly in his arms in a paternal hug that the little brat returned with almost too much enthusiasm.

 

“Hey, those ribs aren't enhanced,” Tony grunted.

 

“Sorry,” Peter loosened his grip, “I'm not going to let you down, Mr. Stark. I know you're the good guy. My Spidey-sense can go to... can go to _hell.”_

 

Tony laughed at his awkward attempt at swearing and chose a PC response, “Leave the swearing to the grown ups until you grow a pair of adult tonsils, okay?”

 

“I don't have any tonsils at all,” Peter laughed, letting go reluctantly as Tony stepped back.

 

Tony stared down at him, taking in the look of adoration and devotion in Peter's eyes. It couldn't be fake. He was wrong. He had to be.

 

“Go home, kid. Get some sleep. You have school tomorrow and I want you to ace those classes. Do me proud, okay?”

 

“I will, sir.”

 

“Hey. Tony,” Tony corrected softly, blinking rapidly to avoid the moisture in his own eyes, “We're working together now, right? You should use my first name.”

 

“Oh, wow, yeah! Sure! S-er-Tony. Absolutely. And you can call me Peter. Or whatever you want, really. Spiderman. Your ward. Whatever.”

 

“Ward. That's funny,” Tony chuckled, “Get out of here.”

 

“Good night... Tony.”

 

“Good night Petey,” Tony smiled and watched as Peter practically skipped out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

 

It was a few precious, precious minutes before everything clicked into place and Tony froze in horror- costing him yet _more_ time with Venom out of sight- before he began to run. He shoved through the door hard enough to jerk his shoulder painfully, ran down the hallway towards the elevator door as it was closing on Peter's coldly smiling form. He was suiting up before he got there, but it was already moving.

 

“No!” Tony slammed into the door, “JARVIS! SHUT DOWN THE ELEVATOR!!”

 

The elevator's distant hum became silent and Tony jerked the doors open, dropped down on top, and yanked open the emergency exit hatch. Empty. Spiderman could be _anywhere_. He was powerful, fast, could stick to anything, and had access to most of the tower.

 

“JARVIS! Where is he?”

 

“Peter Parker is descending via stairwell. He is on the tenth-eighth-fourth-”

 

“I get it!” Tony snapped.

 

It didn't even take a second to question it. He simply dive bombed the floor of his own building and went flying down, through metal and ceiling tiles, terrifying late working employees on the fifth floor, and finally landing in his own lobby. Peter was walking out of the stairwell with a skip in his step and a grin on his face.

 

“Hey, Mr. Stark! I mean Iron Man! When are we-?”

 

He fired, but Peter avoided him with ease, leaping into the air and into a back flip before landing in a crouch and grinning at him.

 

“Training! Awesome!”

 

“You stop wearing my surrogate kid's face, you fucking monster!” Tony shouted.

 

“Your... what? Wow, I'm flattered but really confused, sir, I-”

 

“Peter never had his tonsil's out! You're eating him alive, and I swear if you've taken something vital I'll put you in a room with a thousand speakers and play 'Dark Funeral' until you liquefy _and then_ evaporate!”

 

“Okay, I'm, uh,” Peter put his hands up and stepped back a few steps, “I'm really confused now. Is this a Loki thing? This feels like a Loki thing. Are we at Threat Level Loki and nobody told me?”

 

Tony hesitated and then walked forward while Peter backed away anxiously until he hit the closed elevator doors. There were people in the lobby hunkered down in fear and Tony was suddenly _painfully_ aware of them. Of how many people he'd passed on other floors. Of how many opportunities Venom had had to jump ship. Tony reached out and gripped the 'suit' where it met skin at Peter's throat.

 

It was fabric. _Real_ fabric.

 

Venom was gone.

 


	13. Chapter 13

Eddie was _trying_ damn it, but it wasn't working. He went to the gym and began lifting weights, but he felt so fucking weak. At first he'd assumed it was because he wasn't being boosted by Venom, but after a few more days he began to shit tar and that became... worrisome. His room mate told him it was the food, but Eddie didn't think so and argued his way to the medical ward. There they took a sample of his runny shit- why did it always come down to shit?- and then a blood sample. And a urine sample. And a cheek swab? The fuck?

 

“Doc!” Eddie snapped as the guy sat at his desk and ignored the handcuffed prisoner on the nearby bed, “Come on! Tell me what you're freaked about, huh?”

 

The guy sighed and stood up, putting his coffee cup down and approaching Eddie, “We're waiting on a prison transport to take you to a nearby hospital.”

 

“Meaning?”

 

“I only have a few pieces of equipment here. I'm not a diagnostician. What I can do is look at your samples under a microscope and run a few very basic chemistry tests.”

 

“And?!” Eddie insisted again.

 

“And you've got blood in your stool. Upper levels, that means above your intestines, which isn't good. It could be an ulcer or worse. We need to get you to an ER to determine just how bad it is. Your urine was clear of drugs, but if you took something that somehow hasn't shown up in tests than you need to tell me. Hm? You drink bleach?”

 

“I'm not suicidal,” Eddie insisted, “I got everything to live for.”

 

The man raised an eyebrow and Eddie sighed. He had a point. It didn't look like it.

 

“I'm supposed to see my lawyer tomorrow, you think I wanna miss that? She's my ex and she's hot as fuck.”

 

“Okay. Fair,” The guy nodded, “Based on what I'm seeing and hearing... Don't expect to see your lawyer tomorrow.”

 

“Shit,” Eddie shook his head, “I have to. You don't understand. _I need to see her tomorrow.”_

 

“I can pass word to your CO to give her a message when she shows, but it's up to her if she bothers going to the hospital. Your lawyer is really your ex?”

 

“She's the best,” Eddie shrugged, already knowing Anne would be there.

 


	14. Chapter 14

“Everyone!” Tony shouted, “Means EVERYONE! Everyone stands in front of the fucking gun! DO IT NOW!”

 

Happy held up his hands miserably and pointed it at the next shaking intern.

 

“It's not going to hurt,” He soothed her, then hit the button. Her hands flew over her ears and she clenched her eyes shut, but no Venom emerged.

 

“Sorry,” Tony gave her a smile as she fast walked passed him.

 

“They're really scared, sir,” Happy pleaded, “These people weren't even here last night!”

 

Tony shook his head, “No one who was turned up with a parasite in them. We've got to keep going. It's somewhere here.”

 

“Or it's halfway to the prison by now,” A familiar voice stated, making Tony roll his eyes.

 

“Steve!” Tony responded cheerily, giving him a false smile, “How's it going, buddy? How's the lobbying?”

 

“Not so good,” Steve frowned, “A lot of people don't like us, Tony.”

 

“Yeah, that sucks,” Tony walked backwards, “Happy, could you please shoot Captain America for me? Kay, thanks.”

 

“Really, Tony?” Steve sighed.

 

“Yeah. Really,” Tony nodded.

 

The gun went off and Steve doubled over, hands over his ears and shouts of pain making Tony pull up his weapons and focus them on Tony. The gun's blast halted and Happy swore and smacked it a few times, but Captain America was already straightening up.

 

“Do you know,” He panted, “How good my hearing is, Tony? Or should I say _was?”_

 

Tony lowered his gun, “It's not him.”

 

“But-” Happy argued.

 

“No, there was no face there. Just Steve Rogers in agonizing pain,” Tony shook his head and stepped forward to clasp his shoulder, “We really fucked up this time, Steve.”

 

“What's with this 'we' business?”

 

“The kids in the hospital getting looked at. The thing ate his _gall bladder.”_

 

“Can you live without that?”

 

“Eh,” Tony shrugged and moved towards the elevators, “Come on up. I'd say we can take the stairs, but they're still being searched.”

 

“And everyone going in or out gets scanned with the scream ray?”

 

“Multiple scanners. On each floor,” Tony nodded as they heard one through the elevator's doors on their way up.

 

“He's got to be gone, then,” Steve muttered.

 

“Part of me hopes so, because my mercy over an 'abducted alien creature trapped on a strange planet' is officially over,” Tony stated sharply.

 

“I can't blame you there,” Steve nodded.

 

They stepped out of the elevator and Tony saw Pepper glaring down through the hole in his floor.

 

“Tony?” She asked, voice ice cold, “What? Happened?”

 

“Oh, shit,” Tony whispered.

 

“Oh, wow, look at the time,” Steve backed into the elevator once more, “See you later, Tony!”

 

“Coward!” Tony shouted over his shoulder at him.

 

“Every time, Tony!” Pepper snapped, “Every time I look the other way you _destroy_ something! Do you want the Accords? Do you _like_ them? Because busting up your own building, right here in New York, is definitely a good start to getting _our own president_ to turn on us!”

 

“I'm working on this, Pepper,” Tony argued, “It's politics in work! The system will-”

 

“The system is _broken,”_ Pepper turned away to walk towards his office, “I don't even know what to say to you right now! There are videos of you attacking Spiderman all over the internet! Half the populace thinks- rightly so- that he's a _child.”_

 

“I've got this, Pepper! I'm a big boy with a big boy suit! I can handle it!”

 

“You can handle _nothing_ , Tony!” She rounded on him, perching on the edge of his desk, “I handle things. I do. I do that. That's what I _do_.”

 

“And I love you for it.”

 

Pepper shook her head slowly, “I can't keep doing this, Tony. Look at this floor! You can't even repair it because you're so busy searching for Venom! I haven't even see you in days!”

 

“Yeah, I get that, but-”

 

“You know you almost hit me that night?” Pepper asked softly, “You went blowing right by me, didn't even notice me. Didn't text or call to ask if I was okay.”

 

“You were-” Tony froze, “You were here that night?”

 

“Yes, and Happy scanned me,” She huffed, “You were _there when he did_.”

 

Tony blinked, “Oh, yeah.”

 

“Do you even care about what I just said?” She snapped angrily.

 

“Yes!” Tony insisted, walking towards her slowly with his hands up, “Of course I do! Pepper, you know that you are my number one priority. I blew up my suits for you!”

 

“And then built _more_.”

 

“Yeah, but... Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!”

 

“I told you before that I'm done, Tony, and I meant it. Instead you're just... you're arming everyone! You get a new suit! Peter gets a new suit! What's next? Captain America?”

 

She gestured back towards the exit and the elevator and Tony's mind went wandering.

 

“You know, he'd look way better in black than Peter-”

 

“Damn it, Tony!” Pepper threw up her hands and stomped up to him, pulling off her ring, “When you remember what your priorities are, call me!”

 

“Wait, what? No!” Tony grabbed her arm, but she pulled out with a hiss of fury, “Pepper, if the Accords get passed then I won't be able to protect you-”

 

“You're rich, Tony! You don't need Iron Man to protect me! You already have a fortune, and I thought that was enough, but it's not! I can't just-”

 

“Wait, hang on a second,” Tony scoffed, “That makes it sound like you're just with me for my money. You want to re-phrase that?”

 

Pepper paused and a flicker of guilt flashed through her eyes, “I didn't want... I didn't mean...”

 

“Yeah?” Tony waited, breathless with heart aching in what was left of his chest.

 

Pepper let out a slow breath and held out the ring again, “Tony, I don't mean that all you're good for is your money, okay? I don't mean that.”

 

“Good, because for a second there, that's what it sounded like.”

 

“You're... a... well, you're not a _nice_ guy.”

 

“This still sounds like a break up.”

 

“It is,” She whispered softly.

 

“No. No,” Tony shook his head the pain blossoming out and spreading to his limbs.

 

“It's just that you're arrogant, and stubborn, and _never_ look before you leap!”

 

“Those are my _best_ qualities!”

 

Pepper walked back to his desk and sat down, staring down at her hands and the ring he still hadn't taken back.

 

“I'm starting to realize,” She breathed out, “That part of your charm was your control. You were this powerful guy who I looked up to- and I still do- but you gave _me_ some of the power I just... Every time I clean up after you I love you less and now I'm starting to think that I never loved you at all.”

 

Pepper looked up with tears in her eyes, cheeks flushed red, and Tony uncharitably thought _she's beautiful when she cries_ even as a part of him felt sick with loss. This was it and a good businessman saw the exit deal when it was in front of him. Buy her out and cut all losses or deal with his _ex_ being his fucking CEO.

 

“Well, it sounds a lot like you need more power then.”

 

“Tony,” Pepper groaned, “Don't make this harder than it is.”

 

“I'm not making it harder, I'm making it easier. I have some people I can shuffle around and a side business that needs the attention and time of someone who is strong, independent, brilliant, beautiful, and single.”

 

“That's... that's it?” She asked, sniffling and turning towards him in her chair with hope in her eyes, “We can just... put this behind us? I won't see you every day, you won't see me, we can just... go on like we never began?”

 

“Any way I can convince you to give me another chance?” He asked, gesturing to where she sat.

 

“Fresh out.”

 

“Not even if I flatter you, promise you to change, and make drastic efforts to do so?”

 

“Been there, done that, not doing it again,” She shook her head slowly.

 

“Will getting on my knees and begging help?”

 

“Ew, no,” She grimaced.

 

“Then that's it,” He replied, hands folded in front of him as he shut down the emotions that were tearing him apart inside, “I'll have my lawyers draw up the paperwork, you move out when it's convenient, I'll change the locks when your side of all three closets that you took up- leaving me with none, by the way- turn up empty.”

 

Pepper stood up slowly, sniffling and delicately dabbing at her nose with a tissue she pulled off of his desk, “I... I guess you should have this back?”

 

She held out the ring and he gagged, but managed to keep it down and hid it as a snort.

 

“It's not really my style of bling. I prefer red and gold, not silver and boring diamonds. It's an asthetic thing.”

 

“Right.”

 

Pepper brushed at her dress pointlessly and headed for the door. Tony waited her out. This would go one of three ways and two of those counted as a win... but one less than the other.

 

She got to the door.

 

Opened it.

 

Paused.

 

 _Yes!_ _C'mon!_

 

“It's just that...” She paused, turning back and Tony held his breath, “I feel so awful about this all. I really never meant to lead you on, Tony. I just didn't know who either of us were. I'm really, _really_ sorry.”

 

_Well... it's not the win I wanted, but I'll take it._

 

“I know, Pepper,” Tony replied, not turning around to face her, “I just... really need to be alone right now.”

 

_Score. Hit her in her woman-jewels. Where she feels overwhelming emotions that scare me._

 

The door shut softly and Tony let out a slow breath before turning slowly to make sure she hadn't stayed. She hadn't. He didn't know whether that was a relief or not, because no matter which side of the door she was on he was going to break down at that moment. He didn't even make it to a chair. He hit the floor and broke down right where he was. The only woman who had known him- accepted him for who he was and hadn't just been fucking him for his money- had been doing _exactly that_. How had he not seen it?

 

“Tony? Tony! Sweet Baby Jesus! Tony, what happened? Is it Peter? Pepper? Where are they?” Steve's hands gripped his shoulders and gave him a gentle shake.

 

“She asked me to change and I _couldn't_ ,” Tony choked, putting his head on Steve's shoulder and gripping him tightly with one arm, “How did I not know it then? She didn't want me, she wanted the _businessman_. The _boss_. Not me.”

 

“Oh boy,” Steve shifted and settled down on the floor with him, unashamed to pull him in closer, “That's pretty low, Tony. She shouldn't have done you like that.”

 

Steve giggle snorted through his tears, “That was a terrible attempt at slang, but thanks for trying.”  
  


“Any time,” Steve rubbed his back.

 


	15. Chapter 15

**V: NOW JUMP THREE TIMES! NOW CHARLIE BROWN!**

 

**Venom laughed as he leaped host again. The sound from the guns was _narrow_. It was a beam instead of a wave. It went directly at it's source and didn't deafen the user, who he had spent quite some time in after said user had been scanned by Tony Stark himself. Then he'd jumped to the next. Each time he nipped away at the memory center of the brain. It kept making Happy question Tony Stark, but the man was so incensed that he wasn't properly paying attention. **

 

**Venom didn't want to hurt him. He had started out so mad at Stark, but time inside of Peter Parker had changed that. Peter genuinely loved Tony Stark and he wanted him to be proud of him. He knew that he was flawed, but also worshiped him. He was the father that Peter so desperately needed in his life, and because Venom cared about Peter he in turn cared about Tony Stark.**

**  
The bastard.**

 

**The Accords were a problem, and would become one in the future, and Venom regretted that his actions had added to their trouble. Eddie had been right all along; they should have been more careful. Except Stark thought that the flashy and loud Eddie Brock was to blame for Venom's behavior when really it was V himself. Stark saw Venom as a scared animal, not a sentient adult with higher understanding of his actions. Venom was well and truly capable of feeling regret.**

 

**Which was why he decided if he was going to stay in a host he was going to need one that was not only compatible, but within Stark's realm _and_ who didn't hate him. It would be less irritating to sort out new thought patterns that way. So when the opportunity came and poor Pepper was on her way back into the building, after she got scanned _again_ , and once Venom checked her out himself for compatibility, he jumped into her.**

 

**Ah, She-Venom. A good fit. If Eddie were not her soulmate then Venom would like to be a woman. The grace! The beauty! The way they moved and their bodies were curved like waves at sea! And the POWER! The ability to ignore and indulge pain, combined with that tenacity to destroy whatever was stopping them from achieving happiness, and the HUNGER for chocolate! Women were truly a superior species and it was no wonder men chose to mate with them in the hopes of achieving female heirs as well.**

 

**Silly human reproductive cycles. When Venom and Eddie mated- as Venom was sure they would manage to achieve- they would not do so in such a sloppy way! She would manage to combine their DNA perfectly if it were the last thing she did. For now, however, she was in a body that would be close to Stark, wouldn't muddle her thoughts with conflicting information, and give her access to... to...**

 

**Oh dear.**

 

**Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.**

 

**This was, as Eddie was wont to put it, A Dildo of a Pickle.**

 

**She-Venom was not in control quite yet, and Pepper was unaware of her presence. She could exert some small amount of control, for example pushing Pepper to act on her urge to dump Tony. It was making her _miserable_ to stay, and seeing Stark from this side made She-Venom's rage against him resurface. He had taken her from Eddie! He was selfish, arrogant, and NEVER thought things through! WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF HIM!**

 

**SV: Come, strong one. Let's go out the emergency elevator. No one will notice in all this fuss and we won't have to show off our runny make up. We deserve ice cream. Ice cream and Netflix and a good cry on the couch.**

 

 


	16. Chapter 16

They had cuffed him to the hospital bed. He had to page someone just to take a leak, and they made him use a weird piss tank that looked kind a like a flattened jug of milk. He spent more time worried about whether or not Anne would be able to get to him than if he had something terrible. Whatever it was, Venom could fix it just as soon as his beloved got back to him. Then he would tell him that he loved him, as he suspected Venom had been hinting to him during their brief dialogue; along with that he was going to be in a woman when he got to Eddie.

 

“Eddie, oh my god!” Anne's voice was a welcome cry as she was finally admitted to him, “We can't talk business here, it's not safe to discuss where ears can hear, but I'm going to take your case and we're going to fight this. Okay?”

 

“Hey, Anne,” Eddie grinned and twitched his hand out towards her in longing, “I'm... you know... glad to see you.”

 

“You, too,” She sighed, folding her arms and sighing heavily as she stared down at him, “You look like shit.”

 

“Feel a lot better if I weren't so... alone,” He wriggled his fingers and she gave him a disgusted glare.

 

“Even if I were _allowed_ to touch you without the guards at that _open door_ freaking out, I think Dan would have something to-”

 

Eddie's eyes widened in horror, “He's not with you?”

 

Anne gave him a shocked look, “He's _gone_? No he's not with me! Where did you leave him?”

 

“He's not a shoe, Anne, I can't just backtrack! He moves around on his own when he has to!” Eddie shrieked, beginning to panic.

 

“Well, then he'll make it back to you, right?” She asked, “Because you need him to heal whatever he did to you, Eddie! And if he's not in you than he can't reverse it!”

 

“I don't...” Eddie was trying to breathe, but his chest was getting tight, “I don't think he did this. We spoke on the phone and he didn't seem to know that I was sick. He was reassuring me that... that he's going to get to me. I thought he meant through you, but he didn't... and you're not... and he's not...”

 

“Eddie! Eddie, breathe!”

 

“I c-c-”

 

Everything was fuzzy around the edges and Eddie was hot and cold and scared and lonely and _empty_. Then there was a rush from the IV in his arm and things got a bit warmer and less scary but didn't go away altogether. He blinked up at a doctor who had administered something to calm him down.

 

“Thank you,” Eddie slurred.

 

They were trying to get Anne to leave, but she was stubbornly refusing, stage whispering about her being his lawyer. The doctor gave up and left in a huff, no match for Anne Weying.

 

“Eddie, we're going to figure this out, okay?” Anne soothed, wiping sweat from his forehead with a tissue.

 

“Step away from the prisoner!” The guard ordered, “You are _not_ allowed to touch him!”

 

Anne stepped back and he immediately missed her comforting touch. It was barely a substitute for Venom's all-encompassing comfort, but it was better than the cold and loneliness he constantly felt without him. Eddie whimpered but tried to focus on her words.

 

“I'm going to find him. Tell me where he was last.”

 

“With Spider Man.”

 

“Oh. Oh, shit.”

 

“What?”

 

“So, don't freak out,” Anne grimaced, “But he and Iron Man sort of got into a fight the other day. He's alive last I heard, but who knows if Venom protected him, fled, or switched to someone else in the battle.”

 

Eddie nodded, “You gotta start there. Start with Stark. You've heard me talk about investigating someone enough. You gotta find him, Anne. I... don't make this weird, but there's something he needs to know. I couldn't tell him when he called, I need you to tell him in case he... in case he wants to stay with whoever he's with now instead.”

 

“Eddie, he can't. You'll _die.”_

 

“It _has to_ be his choice, Annie. Tell him I love him. I want him to know that _before_ he comes back. It has to be his _choice_ to come back. Don't make him.”

 

“Oh Eddie, you really are an idiot if you think he doesn't love you back.” Anne sighed, and then paused and frowned, “Stark's tower was involved in the fight with Spider Man. People are saying it got bombed or something. It's on lock down. There's no in or out. His own employees are being searched at entry. I'm not going to be able to get in there easily.”

 

“Bombed or something, who says that? Bombed or... that means they don't _know_.”

 

“Well, so?”

 

“So... find out what happened, Anne. Someone did something, someone got to him, and-”

 

“Got to him,” Anne whispered, “Eddie. His engagement to Pepper Potts got called off.”

 

“So? Good. I hope he's crying about it.”

 

“So you really think Venom is going to go home in a body that has to sleep with someone _not you_ while you two are in the midst of this... break up or whatever it is? If Venom said that he's going to get to you as a woman, but didn't get to me, then who else is close to-”

 

“Yeah, I got it! Go! Go!”

 

“I'm going, don't yell at me!” Anne's heals clicked away and Eddie let out a slow, lingering sigh of misery.

 


	17. Chapter 17

“Come on, what's it mean! It was code! I'm sure it was!” Stark raved.

 

“I'm sorry, sir, but there is simply no information on how Brock invaded Catco.”

 

“He had to have left a trace! He fucking had to! This is... He got a DIRECT QUOTE from Cat herself! While undercover! He was _in her office talking to her_ while she was under... under...”

 

Tony drifted off, considering the source herself. Cat Grant. Ultimate feminist. She became Congresswoman Marsdin's press secretary and Brock spoke to her before she officially left Catco, gaining an exclusive and intense story about the woman running for office against Trump and her choice to let someone else take over her precious magazine empire. Her loss had been catastrophic, to put it lightly, but they'd had a good running and Cat was back at Catco making interns pee themselves. Tony was pretty sure they'd slept together once... or twice... or maybe three times? It was a bit of an alcoholic blur. Either way, he could get her number if he didn't have it already. What was better than going to the source?

 

“Cat Grant's office,” A young woman's voice chirped.

 

“Hi, this is Tony Stark. I need to speak to Cat Grant,” Tony stated.

 

“The code word, please?”

 

“The... what?” He asked.

 

“The code word,” The woman stated, sounding more sure of herself, “Ms. Grant never speaks to anyone who doesn't have her _personal_ cell without the code word.”

 

“Yeah, I tried her personal cell, but she didn't answer it, so-”

 

“She won't answer numbers she doesn't recognize.”

 

“Listen,” Tony smiled as he shifted in his chair, “You sound like a sweet girl, but I don't really have time to play games. Whatever Cat's password is-”

 

“Code word.”

 

“Yeah, sure, I'm sure if you tell her it's me on the phone she'll be happy to take my call.”

 

“I'm not paid enough to piss off Cat Grant.”

 

“Then you're not paid enough to get between she and I.”

 

There was a moment of silence and then a heavy sigh, “Alright. Hold please.”

 

Tony waited for a solid ten minutes, getting more frustrated by the minute, before someone finally answered, and when he did he heard shouting in the distance before someone actually _spoke to him_.

 

“Honestly, Kara, how many times do I have to tell you to- Tony! How have you been?”

 

“Never better, how about you Cat? Still making interns cry?”

 

“On good days. No holes in my chest, so there's that,” She purred, “If you wanted an interview I could have-”

 

“Actually-”

 

“Don't talk over me,” Her voice snapped sharply.

 

“Sorry.”

 

“You call me, you get an interview. Those are my terms. Two if I deem your favor too expensive. Now. What do _you_ want?”

 

“Shall we do this in person?” He purred.

 

“I'm _working_ and you're engaged. I don't play with other people's toys.”

 

“You didn't hear, oh great queen of reporters? We broke up.”

 

“I heard, but I never believe anything without sources, and gossip rags don't count,” She stated coolly, “Besides. I never wear hand-me-downs, either.”

 

“Aww, Cat,” Tony pouted.

 

“Get to the _point._ I'm a busy woman, Tony.”

 

“How did Eddie Brock get into your building and get you to agree to an interview that could have cost you your job as Secretary to the future President?”

 

“Well... hopeful future president,” Cat replied, “If only she hadn't _bungled it_ and lost to that dimwhitted, orange buffoon.”

 

“Yeah, but she did, and you still took a risk before you knew it would be one.”

 

“Did I?”

 

“Did you?”

 

“Who's asking the questions here?”

 

“You are. I mean, I am. I mean... wait... what's happening right now?”

 

“Your _interview.”_

 

“No, no, no,” Tony argued, “That comes _after_ you answer my question. How did Eddie Brock get to you?”

 

“How does any man get to me?”

 

“That... that is a trick question. I've been with one woman long enough to know that now.”

 

“Darn, caught me,” She sighed.

 

For a moment there was silence and Tony was much irritated that she didn't respond, but then he heard her shift and sigh.

 

“You first, Tony. You won't stay on the phone if I don't get what I want first.”

 

“Right back at you.”

 

“Then we're at an impasse.”

 

“Why do you think I suggested lunch?”

 

“To get me naked, of course.”

 

“I can multitask.”

 

“I've slept with you before. No. You can't.”'

 

“Ouch. Right in the manhood. What do you want to know, Cat?”

 

“Who left whom?”

 

“She...” He let out a slow breath. It hurt to say out loud, “She left me.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Fell out of love. Got tired of Iron Man. Thought I was more trouble than I was worth. Take your pick.”

 

“So it wasn't _money_? She wasn't after your money and company?” Cat asked.

 

“What? No. Why would you even suggest that,” He snapped angrily.

 

“Because, like Brock knew that day, the best questions are the ones you know the answer to already. The ones you only need _confirmed_. That's where the real story lies.”

 

“She dumped me. It's barely a story. Are you a gossip rag now? Is that what you've been reduced to?” Tony didn't realize he was shouting until he finished, and that was how he showed his hand.

 

“Interesting,” Cat stated softly, and then launched into her reply, “He outsmarted everyone around him by making himself the most unobtrusive and inconspicuous person one could ever see. Eddie put himself in the garb of an old woman, walked through the halls pushing a cart full of cleaning supplies, and made his way up to my office throughout the course of one day. While he cleaned he listened in on everyone's conversations, and sneakily took pictures. I'm the only one who saw through him, because I'm the only one who doesn't think that women are obsolete and inferior. When he leaned over to snoop at _my_ desk, instead of telling him to get out of my way like others had, I immediately suspected someone was trying to snoop. I caught him and he had me confirm or deny what he'd gathered. Since he already had the information- and had impressed me- I let him have his scoop. Mutual respect. You understand.”

 

“Sure,” Tony hummed, “So, that's it?”

 

“That's it.”

 

“Good night, Ms. Grant.”

 

“Good night, Tony.”

 

He dressed as a janitor. Someone inconspicuous. Tony had already checked his _staff,_ so what was-

 

Or. Or simpler than that. He was trying to think like BROCK, but he was trying to catch VENOM. Venom wasn't an investigator, had only been doing it briefly under Brock's tutelage. He mimicked him, but he didn't _think like him._

 

“A woman. He was telling Eddie to _expect a woman_ , he wasn't giving away his plans for Stark Tower, he was telling him who was headed his way! And once he got out of Peter and the control of the inhibitor he'd be able to change faces whenever he liked. Take complete and full control of anyone and everyone. So it didn't matter who he'd gone to _first,_ that person was likely already dead or Venom had moved on before killing them. His goal mattered. His goal would be a woman who could easily get to Eddie Brock.”

 

His goal would be Anne Weying.

 


	18. Chapter 18

As it turned out, Tony didn't have to look for Anne Weying, because she had already been trying to reach him. She'd left multiple messages with _his_ attorneys trying to reach both he and Pepper. Apparently she wanted to sue him for five million dollars and was threatening to contact the EPA, CDC, and poison control. His lawyers had laughed her off, but when Tony mentioned finding her his secretary had mentioned that she'd called and he ended up listening to her message. Her scathing, infuriated, message in which she detailed him causing a cancer outbreak and how she was tracking down other occupants of the motel the night he'd gassed Eddie Brock who... was dying.

 

Tony immediately contacted his team, because if she went to the papers it would be The Accords brought up again and they had only three more months before it went to a vote at the UN. If they could stop it in enough big countries the smaller would be swayed, but so far America was the only one backing them. If people found out they were gassing reporters that would switch to Russia only, and for the _worst_ reasons.

 

Since they suspected Weying of containing Venom, Tony assembled the Avengers and armed them with sonic guns once again. Once they were all gathered together, along with Tony's lawyers, Anne and her team were brought in. A tall, handsome man was hot on her heels, glancing at her with eyes that were clearly enamored, but it was the wider man with the squinty eyes who Tony was worried about. Like Anne, he was a well known and ruthless lawyer.

 

“You've got a lot to answer for, Mr. Stark,” Anne stated from the gate.

 

“Phone calls, for starters,” Tony stated, “My apologies for not returning your call. We get so many ridiculous lawsuit threats that my lawyers didn't realize yours wasn't a joke.”

“This is hardly a laughing matter, Mr. Stark. A man is dying.”

 

“A man accused of murder,” Stark replied.

 

“That hasn't been proven yet. Eddie Brock is a well renowned and beloved investigative journalist with a devout following who quite literally _saved the world_ two months ago. Your crew of vigilantes attacked him with a deadly poison and arrested him without warrant or probable cause.”

 

“You... you don't think video surveillance of him walking around in Trump Tower-”

 

“Eddie Brock is not possessed of a symbiote at this time,” Anne cut him off, “He doesn't know _where_ Venom is, or if there are other symbiotes out there. Since Venom contains some of his DNA, and is able to be controlled by a host, there's absolutely no way you could even _begin_ to prove that it was Eddie in that building, or that Venom was a willing accomplice to those actions.”

 

“Oh!” Tony scoffed, “Oh, so we're protecting the _alien_ now? Is that what we're doing?”

 

“Even if you could,” She continued, “You didn't have a warrant to enter his motel room, and most _definitely_ didn't have a legal right to blow up a motel room window and fire deadly gas into his room, separating him from an alien who he is virtually _married_ to-”

 

“Married?!” Tony laughed.

 

“-possibly permanently separating their genetic bond without their permission. That action caused him to develop _aggressive_ cancer, which will kill him without that symbiote returned.”

 

“You can't have it both ways, Ms. Weying,” Tony's lawyer piped up, “Was he with the symbiote at the time of the alleged attack by the Avengers, or was he separated from him shortly before that while breaking and entering into Trump Towers?”

 

“The symbiote can leave at will and- as you have already proven- be taken by force.”

 

“Is Mr. Brock alleging that he was sepa-” Tony's lawyer- what the fuck was his name again?- began to ask only to be interrupted.

 

The door opened up and Tony's stomach plummeted as Pepper stormed into the room, arms full of a box filled with things which she marched up to Tony and stuffed into his arms.

 

“Sorry to interrupt,” She stated.

 

“No you're not. You never do _anything_ without thinking about it first. Usually twice,” Tony replied, mouth dry.

 

“True,” She stated, then stepped back a pace and turned immediately to look at Anne, “Ms. Weying. A pleasure to meet you.”

 

Pepper had her back to Tony, which was why he had a full view of Anne smiling as if they were old friends, relief in her eyes at seeing Pepper, and stepping forward to shake hands with her. Pepper, however, stepped backwards suddenly, shoulders jerking as if she were a puppet on strings, and it made Anne hesitate and give her a worried look.

 

“Is something wrong... Ms. Potts?”

 

“Would you mind a hug instead?” Pepper asked after a surprisingly long pause, “I've heard so much about you I feel like we already know each other.”

 

“Of course!” Anne stepped forward and practically _dragged_ Pepper into a tight hug.

 

“What's going on?” Tony asked with suspicion in his voice.

 

“Your lawsuit,” Anne stated, but then went still, eyes widening as if in horror, and the venom symbiote made itself known.

 

It was so very different from seeing Eddie Brock do it. He was casual, comfortable, with the symbiote sliding on and off as if it were a hoodie he wrapped around himself to protect from a chill. Not so with Anne. She seemed to visibly fight the take-over and then Venom raged forward, swallowing her head and flexing fingers out like claws.

 

“ **WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY EDDIE?!”**

 

Tony's lawyer screamed, embarrassing and shrill, and ducked behind Tony, who was still in alarm at the sight of the busty Venom before him. He put up both hands while Venom glared around himself- herself?- angrily. She was breathing hard, spittle dripping from her long, shining teeth, and her eyes were slowly bleeding... red? Guns around them drew ready, but no one moved to fire just yet.

 

“Hey there, Venom!” Tony chirped cheerfully, “Good to see you! You know, you're quite the-”

 

“ **TAKE US TO HIM NOW!”**

 

“Eddie's in prison,” Tony stated, “In the medical ward, getting top care-”

 

“ **I WILL CARE FOR HIM!”** She-Venom raged, “ **YOU ARE AN INMCOMPETANT DRAIN ON SOCIETY!”**

 

“Aw, you wound me, you-” Tony moved to put the box down, and in doing so glanced at the contents. He'd been avoiding it. It was undoubtedly something that Pepper was returning to him. Some gifts or something along those lines. He didn't want the emotional burden at a time like this, but when he saw the box full of gifts he'd once given to Pepper something suddenly occurred to him, “You were _inside Pepper!”_

 

“Yes, she was,” Pepper replied softly, turning to face him and giving him her coldest glare, “You _hurt her lover_ , Tony. What the hell?”

 

“Her lo- wow. That is _not_ something I ever needed to know and yet I am distractedly curious as to how that would work. Not distracted enough, though. Nope, because I still want to know for _how long_. How long were you lurking inside my fiance's head poisoning her against me?”

 

“She-” Pepper started, but was cut off by She-Venom's laughter.

 

“ **Do you actually think I had to tell her to leave you?”** She-Venom mocked him, “ **You were so busy trying to protect her body that you forgot to protect her heart and mind! I would** _ **never**_ **betray Eddie in such a way. You left her** _ **alone**_ **. What is the point of loving someone if they are absent of you all the time? Of course she grew bored of your baubles. They lacked substance. As do you.”**

 

Tony strode across the room to where Steve held one of the Venom Stunning Guns and tried to pull it out of his hands, but he held it tightly.

 

“Tony,” He pleaded.

 

“Give me that thing! I'm going to blast her into hell!”

 

“That won't fix this, Tone. TONY!”

 

“FUCK YOU!” Tony spun around to face Venom again, pointing at her angrily, “FUCK YOU AND YOUR RIDICULOUS NOTION OF INTIMACY! You don't love Eddie Brock, you're _obsessed_ with him! He can't even have a normal _death_ because of you! He's addicted and you're crack, you repulsive slimy-”

 

She-Venom strode forwards to backhand him and Tony's suit flew over his body in rapid succession.

 

“ **EDDIE WILL NOT DIE! EDDIE WILL BE MINE FOREVER!”** She raged, swiping at him and missing as he ducked quickly out of the way and powered up.

 

“EAT ENERGY YOU POSSESSIVE-”

 

“ENOUGH!” Steve stood between them, hands out, shield towards She-Venom but frequency gun absent, “Tony, I never felt right about this from the door. We should have negotiated first-”

 

“I tried!” Tony snapped.

 

“No, you flirted. Like you always do, and when it backfired you went for weapons, but that's not the solution here. If what Pepper and Anne are saying are true, than _we're the bad guys here_. We made a mistake and we need to fix it.”

 

“ **Yes! You are the bad guys!”**

 

Tony removed the mask portion of the suit, stubbornly pushing his emotions down and aside.

 

“Venom was out of control,” He argued.

 

“Venom needed _guidance,_ not an attack and a new host. Eddie's not the problem, because Spider Man couldn't control her, either. So we had it backwards. Venom was the threat, not the hero turned trouble because of Brock. He's an alien with alien thoughts and morals, like we said, but the _host_ isn't as influential as we'd hoped. You were _wrong_ , Tony,” Captain America insisted.

 

“Geez, Cap, not in front of the _lawyers!”_ Tony hissed.

 

“I'm sorry, my friend, but I have to side against you in this,” Steve gave him a weak smile, “We have a duty to make this right.”

 

“Why? For love?” He asked, gesturing at the feminine form of Venom, “It's looking a little unfaithful right now!”

 

“You have to tell him,” Pepper stated, folding her arms and facing She-Venom with concern in her eyes, “I know you don't want to, but he won't understand if you don't tell him.”

 

“ **It's different now,”** She-Venom argued, shifting from foot to foot, “ **Eddie is dying. He is sick. It... complicates things.”**

 

“He's _what?_ ” She asked, turning to Tony.

 

“Yeah, you missed a few things by running my sibling company,” Tony stated, “I had my secretary contact you because Ms. Weying here has been trying to get a hold of you, probably to get a hold of... She-Venom, is it now? Yeah. So- _allegedly­_ the gas we used to separate them caused Brock to get an aggressive form of cancer. I mean, that's unproven. It's just unproven. For all we know anyone who spends too long with a venom symbiote gets tumors. Peter's fine, but maybe we should get you checked out.”

 

“I'm fine,” Pepper waved him off, “What does this change, V? Can you heal him?”

 

“ **Yes, but,” t** eal worry contorted the terrifying visage before them, “W **e do not know what these 'cancer treatments' will do to our seed.”**

 

“Seed?” Iron Man's eyes narrowed, “What seed? Do I wanna know what 'seed' means in this context? I don't think I do.”

 

“Have they began treatments?” Anne asked, the mask shifting briefly to allow her to speak.

 

“No,” Anne's lawyers stated, shuffling through paperwork, “They're prepping him for surgery in an attempt to remove as many of the tumors as possible. They don't want him weakened further for it, but if he keeps declining at this rate he'll be too ill to receive treatment.”

 

“So?” Tony piped up, “He's a _criminal,_ and so are you. We should have put you in a bucket like we'd originally planned! I blame Banner. He wanted to study the parasite and was so sure that you two were going to-”

 

“ **I am not a parasite! Parasites destroy! I am a symbiote! I give back to my host!”** She-Venom raged, and Anne interrupted with a nudge forward, “Besides, if you don't care about the fate of criminals, why stop Venom at all? Why not let them continue policing San Francisco?”

 

“You have to tell Tony,” Pepper pleaded again, “It will change his mind and you need to get to Brock _now_.”

 

“What are we trying to change here?” Tony scoffed, “He's in _jail_ and he's staying there!”

 

She-Venom shifted where she stood and let out a low, anxious grumbling sound similar to a growl but more thoughtful before wrapping her arms around herself in a surprisingly vulnerable stance and speaking, “ **We are ready to divide.”**

 

The room collectively waited and Pepper sighed, “She means that Brock is _pregnant.”_

 

The room reacted in various ways, stammering a reaction or staring in alarm at She-Venom. Banner stepped forward eagerly to ask questions, but she snarled at him and he backed up quickly with hands up.

 

“ **ENOUGH! This is no miracle, this is our time! I left my seed with Eddie for safekeeping while you placed me with strangers, and our time is short! If we do not reach Eddie before they fill him with poisons our seed will die, and so will our mate! My host needs me! NOW!”**

 

“Pregnant alien,” Tony ran his hand down his face, “So you're going to reproduce asexually and there are going to be more of you.”

 

“Which means,” Banner interrupted, “That we need to figure out if they're actually good or bad.”

 

“ **YOU are bad!”** She-Venom roared, “ **You took me from my mate! From my offspring's father! And our child will NOT be an alien!”**

 

“Wait, a human child? You're having a _human_ child?” Tony stilled in alarm, “And it's Brock or the symbiotes? Or both? You two actually _reproduced_?”

 

“ **Our child will be an _earthling_ symbiote because it will be created on _earth!_ ” **She-Venom straightened up proudly.

 

“Immigration laws. Nice,” Black Widow nodded.

 

“Does that matter?” Pepper asked in frustration, “Alien or not, a life is a life!”

 

“If a life is a life,” Banner spoke up softly, “What about the ones that Venom- I mean She-Venom- has taken?”

 

“ **What about the one's we've SAVED?”** She-Venom pointed out, and gestured pointedly, “ **Who am I accused of killing?”**

 

“Murderers, rapists, and gang members,” Steve nodded, “Except that doesn't mean they aren't also parents, kids, and spouses.”

 

“ **The better to relieve their family of their burdens. Why keep a host that abuses you? I did not,”** She-Venom cast eyes at Peter who scowled.

 

“Wow, heartless,” Black Widow nodded, “I like her. Can we keep her like this? She seems smarter with the woman.”

 

“ **NO! EDDIE!”**

 

“Yeah, you'll never get me to believe that,” Tony scoffed, gesturing to Peter, “Behold the softest of cinnamon rolls.”

 

“Um... actually...” Peter grimaced.

 

“What?” Tony asked sharply, turning to Peter, “Did you do?”

 

Peter cringed away and rubbed his hands together, “It's not what I did, it was the inhibitor. Venom was completely helpless and... I knew he was. It's just that he was constantly whispering in my head and it made me so _angry_. So I just ignored him, even when he told me he was hurting. I didn't mean to. But then it was mad at me and took over completely, so that's just as bad, right?”

 

“ **We are now aware of consent,”** She-Venom spoke in a surprisingly soft voice, “ **We are sorry.”**

 

“Consent,” Tony's head shot over to her.

 

“That's a really specific term,” Steve added, glancing at Tony in concern.

 

“Yeah,” Pepper cleared her throat, “I taught it to her.”

 

Eyes riveted to Pepper Potts, but she glared them all down, one at a time, refusing to explain herself in any way.

 

“So,” Tony mused, “She can learn.”

 

“ **I absorb information and abilities from each of my hosts. Peter was a failure, but most... educational,”** She-Venom shot out a web and hit Peter in the face with it. He struggled to remove the stuff covering his mouth.

 

“Jerk! Why does Brock even want you?!”

 

“ **Your protige has much anger you do not know of,”** She-Venom informed Tony, “ **You should take great care with him. You have a threat bigger than I in your midst.”**

 

“Softest. Cinnamon. Roll,” Tony emphasized.

 

“I don't understand,” Steve sighed.

 

“It's a meme,” Peter supplied.

 

“Of course it is,” Steve nodded, rolling his eyes skyward.

 

Tony studied Peter quietly, “I know what it's like to be angry and simmering and ready to boil over inside. I know what it does to a person. I know how it destroys them from the inside out- especially the liver. I know how it makes everything around you seem black and angry and wrong.”

 

Tony turned back to Venom, “Why them?”

 

“ **Why who?”** She-Venom shrugged one massive shoulder, breast bouncing.

 

“Why only criminals? The other one- Riot, was it- went after anyone. Even a little girl. Even destroyed a host that was a genetic option that they'd kept for _months._ You've explained why Eddie Brock, but why kill only criminals?”

 

“ **Eddie's rules,”** She-Venom explained with a dismissive gesture, “ **Like you I know that all humans are** _ **capable**_ **of evil, so why care who lives or dies? But Eddie is a good man. Eddie wants there to be order. Justice. Peace. He hates evil and fights to expose it. He wants to be good. He wants to be a hero. He knows that we need the chemicals in heads, that chocolate will only hold us off for so long, and he believes in compromise. He thinks the same words when we eat people over and over again.** **Vive la révolution** **.”**

 

“Oh, cool, he wants to behead the aristocracy. No wonder we didn't get along,” Tony sassed, throwing up his hands.

 

“He wants _justice_ ,” Steve spoke up, “I know what it's like to be a soldier. To have to decide which lives need to be taken-”

 

“Oh, no, not you, too,” Tony sighed, clearly feigning frustration, “Well, if Captain America is on board, I guess I have to be, too.”

 

Steve shook his head in amusement, smiling at Tony as he stepped away from where he had been positioned between the two powerhouses. Tony was saving face, that was clear, but if it was what got them on the same page then Steve would take it. As would Venom, it seemed.

 

“ **How do we get me to Eddie?”**

 

Tony nodded, “He doesn't have bail since he's been accused of _treason_ , so I can't just throw money at it, but we can sure as hell make a fuss to get his lawyer in to see him. After all, his illness has made your meeting with him delayed, right?”

 

“I already tried to-” Anne started, but Tony cut her off.

  
“You tried. You failed,” Tony walked towards his desk, “I won't. After that we just need to do what we've been trying to do from the start: change public opinion of heroes. Focus: Venom. And you, my inky black friend, have given me a _brilliant_ idea.”

 

Tony sat at his desk and slid his fingers through the air to bring up a holographic screen, “JARVIS. Prison blueprints, the mayor's number, and a list of inmates and guards.”

 

“Yes, Sir,” JARVIS replied smoothly.

 

Tony grinned as he scrolled through faces and profiles of inmates, “Long live the revolution.”

 


	19. Chapter 19

Anne walked through the prison with her shoulder's rolled back and an outraged expression firmly on her face. Her client had been denied for _too long,_ and they were now going to be given the privacy they needed. When they entered the hospital she kept her eyes off of him initially, but she heard his sharp intake of breath and the coo in her head from the symbiote she carried. Anne continued to be silently and stubbornly aloof as they shifted him into a wheelchair and put his saline drip up on a stand. She walked behind as they walked him through the building and into... the chapel. This was something Venom had insisted upon. Instead of meeting in the usual rooms for lawyers to speak to their clients they were headed for the chapel. There were multiple reasons this was being allowed: it had more space so they could make sure that Eddie was still being cared for, it was a sort of neutral ground where the guards were less keyed up, It was on the same floor as the medical ward and Eddie couldn't do stairs, the room had sound dampeners to give praying prisoners privacy so it didn't echo, and Anne had made a stink about it. To gear up for it Eddie had been told to ask for trips there, claiming a need for clergy during his downward health spiral. The priest was standing by as well, managing to look both serene and uncomfortable.

 

They set up a noise machine in the very front where the alcove for kneeling made a natural spot to communicate in secret. The doctor checked Eddie over carefully and then gave Anne a nod and stepped back to watch from a polite distance. He knew he'd be in quite a bit of trouble if he talked about their discussion. Once they had more space she headed for him.

 

“V,” Eddie wheezed, his frame thin and pale, “V, fuck, I missed you so much, my darling.”

 

He couldn't even _lift his hand_ , and Anne hesitated. Part of her was railing against _this_ being the man she once loved and still cared for. He didn't look like himself. He looked like an old man and she didn't want to make it real by making physical contact. She-Venom had no reservations. She pulled on Anne's arm and their fingers touched, letting inky blackness slide over his finger tips before quickly retracting. Tears formed in Eddie's eyes and he let his head fall back and his eyes closed.

 

“It's okay. S'fine. I understand. I'll just... I'll be fine. Go on. Stay with Annie-”

 

“Shut up, you idiot,” Anne hissed, “You're having a baby.”

 

Eddie blinked, “It's not a tumor?”

 

“No, you definitely have tumors, but Venom is about to... blossom or something and he left his _seed_ inside of _you._ You two are having a bouncing baby slimer and if they treat you for cancer it could hurt your baby.”

 

“I'll refuse treatment,” Eddie replied, hand recoiling as he abruptly found strength, “I can do that. I'll refuse. How long till they hatch or sprout or whatever? Will I make it long enough? Or do I need to find a new host to transfer the goo-by to?”

 

“Eddie! Shut up!” Anne hissed, “She-Venom-”

 

“She-Venom?”

 

“Apparently she has a concept of gender identity that we didn't realize until she spent a long period of time inside two women.”

 

“Two women?” Eddie blinked, lip twitching, “You go-getter, you. I want details.”

 

“Damn it, Eddie,” Anne chuckled, “Stop joking, will you? The point is, she now understands consent and is worried about you getting a _choice._ She doesn't want you two to fight like this again. She wants you two to _agree_ to be together again. Otherwise she'll take the seed and... and leave with me.”

 

“Can I talk to him? Er- her?”

 

Anne shrugged miserably, “Through me? Even if we could get your bed up to the second floor with the private rooms for lawyers to talk to clients there are still cameras. I can't just pull on her face and chit chat.”

 

“I want to know what she wants,” Eddie replied, “Did you give her my message?”

 

“I told her you love her, yeah, but she knew that already, Eddie,” Anne smiled softly, “She loves you, too. And she says she can heal you and leave if that's what you're worried about.”

 

“No, no, I don't care about me. She's got other rides, she can go places! Do things! I don't want to hold her back.”

 

“Eddie,” Anne gripped his fingers gently, “You're not holding her back. She wants to have this baby with _you_ , she's asking for your permission, not a huge thought project on alien placement on Earth. Do you want her back? Do you want to raise your spawn together? Or do you want her to move on?”

 

“I want her back, why wouldn't I want her back? God, Annie, I want her back so much it hurts worse than this fucking cancer,” His voice cracked towards the end, “I never wanted her away I just... I wanted her to have a chance to think about what _she_ wanted, away from me influencing her.”

 

“Okay,” Anne soothed gently, “One more thing before I pass her back to you-”

 

“Wait, what am I supposed to feed her in here?” He panicked a bit, “She's going to need to either not heal me or eat half the prison!”

 

“We've got that covered, Eddie,” Anne waved dismissively, “She wanted us here, in a church, for a reason. Banner is working on a counter to the chemical that separated you two and it's almost done. Once you're healed up, and the seed is blossomed, he's going to apply it and you two are going to be genetically connected again. Tony Stark is sorry as hell and he's going to lock the other chemical up, only to be used if the Klyntar attack and with _your_ supervision.”

 

Eddie's eyes were damp as he gave her hand a weak squeeze back, “We'll never be separated again.”

 

“Never again,” Anne pulled her hand free to tap on the back of her own and a hologram appeared in the air briefly, showing the time, “We've got ten minutes. I'm sending her back to you. She's eaten half a city block worth of chocolate and I snuck out to get her a couple villains last night when Iron Man wasn't watching. She's powered up to heal you as quickly as possible.”

 

“Oh good,” Eddie grimaced fingers twitching, “Now I get to explain catheters to her. What's happening in ten minutes?”

 

“Your wedding,” Anne winked, “And then your redemption.”

 


	20. Chapter 20

Tony sat in his chair with _L'autunno- L. Allegro_ playing in the background. His screens showed various halls and sections of the prison. It was early morning and the changing of the guards was about to happen, with the morning meeting taking most guards out of rotation. The few that were on the floor had had their schedules very carefully changed. They were all cops removed from regular work and put into work at the prisons after they'd amounted too many killings of unarmed people of color and couldn't be kept on the force anymore without causing riots.

 

“Mm, too chill JARVIS,” Tony decided, “Maybe something espionage?”

 

James Bond's theme song came on but Tony shook his head, “Nope.”

 

The next round was Disturbed, _Stricken_ , and Tony's smile widened, “Perfect. Now dance, little puppets! Dance!”

 

The lock down alarm went off, infiltration gates dropped, and the prison cells all swung open. The gates were meant to protect guards from prisoners in a riot getting too far, but in this instant they were effectively locking the guards into their own inner sanctum. Normal lock down procedures secured the doors to the cells, but this was an invasion not a lock down, and the prison was now in absolute chaos. The worst of the prison population was loose in their section and the gate separating the church, library, and eating hall from the rest of the population was conveniently not magnetically locked.

 

By the time he saw Venom appear on screen in all his now masculine glory the song and changed over to _[Indestructible](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T-8u0zmDHE), _and Tony wasn't about to protest it.

 

XXX

 

**V: Eddie. Eddie. Wake up, my love. Eddie. WAKE THE FUCK UP, LOSER!**

 

Eddie's eyes flew open and his breath quickened as his eyes shot around him. The dark wooden trim in the room, meant to make it look more like a church and less like a prison, came into sharp focus above him. Across the white plaster between the beams was a kaleidoscope of color from the stained glass window facing the rising sun. Eddie's lips slowly spread into a smile, but a sharp jerk of pain brought him back into focus. He glanced down at where a doctor, black tentacles threateningly wrapped around his neck, was carefully easing his catheter out of his dick. His arm was already void of IV needles and handcuffs had been removed. The guards were gone, but there was screaming in the distance that made him wary. Anne was watching the doctor with the calm of someone used to being in control of entire courtrooms.

 

“Now then,” Anne nodded, “Father Guthries, I believe you have a wedding to perform.”

 

“You should be able to stand now, Eddie. Come on. Just a little bit longer. You can't let your symbiote spend time in two ladies without her developing a bit of a romantic streak.”

 

Eddie could stand, although he did so on shaky legs. He stepped towards Anne as Venom effortlessly shoved the gurney away with an inky tentacle. In a moment he was looking _up_ at Venom as he formed out of his side to 'stand' beside him.

 

“God, you're beautiful,” Eddie breathed, reaching up to cup his cheek lovingly and smiling into his [white howlite](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj_j9vSzL3fAhXIct8KHU38D2cQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http://www.crystalage.com/online_store/howlite_palm_stone_422912.cfm&psig=AOvVaw0PyTS11zVQoSQs7UBP8j7c&ust=1545916780733245) eyes, “I've missed you so much, my love.”

 

“ **And I you, my only. Soon we will be together forever, but for now...”** Venom gestured to the trembling priest, “ **The words, Father.”**

 

“W-we are gathered here today to-”

 

“ **FASTER!”**

 

The man shrieked, flinching and holding up a Bible to protect his face, “KISS THE BRIDE! KISS IT!”

 

“Aw, I was gonna make a Princess Bride joke,” Eddie pouted, but Venom pulled him into his arms and their kiss consumed all thoughts. Sharp teeth teased his lips while a hot, thick, long tongue invaded his mouth and conquered him completely.

 

Like diving into a deep hot spring, Eddie felt Venom's heat suffuse his skin and slide deep into him and Eddie gasped in relief and joy. He was _complete_... well, as complete as they could get without the genetic bond they were still denied, but that barely dampened the bliss of being _together_ again. He felt energy fill his mind even as more pain slipped away with Venom's tender ministrations.

 

“ **Mawwaige,”** Venom chuckled, turning to the shaking priest, “ **Mawwaige is what bwings us hewe today...”**

 

“Oh, for pity's sake,” Anne groaned, slapping her forehead, “Will you just eat the pedophile so we can go?”

 

The priest's terrified face flew at them and then he was gone, body falling to the ground with blood spurting from his shredded, disconnected throat. Eddie laughed lightly within his husband's warm embrace and then motioned Anne over to the back of the sanctuary.

 

“ **Hide.”**

 

“As if,” She scoffed, reaching into her bra and pulling out a tiny, plastic tube that looked a bit like an inhaler, “You're not leaving me behind again.”

 

With that statement she shot at the first person pushing their way through the door and blew a hole clear through him.

 

“Wow! I like this thing!”

 

“ **Stay behind us,”** Venom laughed.

 

What followed was an hour of devastating gore as they worked their way through the worst of the criminals, with Eddie halting them from killing any guards or those falsely accused. By the time they rescued the guards the SWAT team had arrived and Venom slid into him like a warm drink and waited for the wheels of fame to start to roll once again.

 


	21. Chapter 21

“Well, that does it,” Tony slid a finger down and the paper's headlines vanished, “Venom has a helluva reputation, people thought the marriage was beautiful, they're demanding we release the pedophile preists' beheading without it blurred out, and apparently the Accords are completely unmoved by either this situation or the money I tried to bribe them with. So. Who has a fresh idea, because I am _out_.”

 

They were sitting at a round table, because of course they were, and Eddie was perched on their coffee table because he wasn't interested in being Lancelot despite his husband having unintentionally stolen King Arthur's fiance away from him. The down side was that people kept giving him awkward looks when they came by for a coffee, the upside was Thor was in town and he was as fond of his hammer as Eddie was of the blob curled up in his lap that he was petting. They'd had a nice long talk about loving their alters and the trials of decision making as a god. That last bit had been mostly contributed by Venom.

 

Eddie couldn't help the amusement in his eyes as he glanced towards them, but soon was back to lovingly petting the shifting creature in his lap. He was still healing and Venom was eating almost constantly, so he was feeding him bits of chocolate as they waited for Banner to arrive. He had been held up with the last of his work in the lab.

 

“That's it, my love,” Eddie cooed as Venom opened his mouth a full 180 degrees, “Eat up. This one's got caramel.”

 

“Could you two eat quietly?” Tony snipped.

 

“Sorry to bother you, we're usually _alone_ so as not to annoy others when comforting each other while we recover from grievous injuries caused by said others.”

 

“I think it's cute,” Natasha replied fondly.

 

Venom winked at her and Eddie chuckled, “He's using he/him pronouns now, but thanks.”

 

“Aww, can I pet him?” She asked.

 

“Sure,” Eddie nodded once getting the okay from Venom.

 

Black Widow walked around the table and stroked him with two fingers while Venom stretched eagerly.

 

“So, is Anne single?” She asked with a smirk.

 

Venom vanished into Eddie and his face twisted into a partial transformation, “ **Annie is ours!** Oh, hey, sorry about that. They're a hive mind on his planet and he's made a sort of connection with Annie and Dan. They're kinda a power couple. Disgustingly cute.”

 

“Darn,” Natasha shrugged, “Worth a shot.”

 

“Yeah, I know that feel.”

 

The back and forth between Tony and Steve was surprisingly flirtatious and Eddie whispered a few amused jokes at their antics, but they were nowhere near figuring out their problem. They were, however, getting closer and closer and Eddie wasn't into seeing any PDA from them that day.

 

“What you two need to do,” Eddie cut in, “Is stop thinking like capitalists and soldiers and start thinking like socialists.”

 

“I thought you were a commie,” Steve frowned.

 

“I'm a mix of lots of leftist ideals,” Eddie replied with a shrug, “Point is, you lot came after me and it was a big show of power, right?”

 

“Right?” Steve queered while Tony rolled his eyes and groaned, “We said we're sorry!”

 

“I mean, you want to calm down this shit about The Accords, than instead of freaking out you should firmly say that you're going to police yourselves. I mean, you already started. Make it work for you.”

 

Tony and Steve both gaped at Eddie and then at each other.

 

“What would... policing ourselves mean?” Steve asked carefully, “And please try not to use any German when you explain it. It makes me want to punch Nazis.”

 

“Oh, I love that meme!” Eddie grinned.

 

“What's a meme, again?” Steve asked.

 

“Not important,” Eddie rubbed his hands together and stood up, “So what you do is decide who among you is the most scrupulous- or which is viewed as such- and you put them in dark ass uniforms. You know, something menacing. You put them in front of a camera- I happen to have one in my bags- and you make an announcement that violence of any kind against the innocent will not be tolerated, even by your own kind! I mean, I can write you a script if you like. I'm better in front of a camera.”

 

Tony and Steve gave each other a considering look and a grin spread slowly over Tony's face.

 

“No,” Steve shook his head, “We're the Avengers. We're supposed to be a united front against evil.”

 

“We still can be... while you... you know... rein me in a bit,” Tony winked and Steve blushed brightly.

 

“I don't want a new costume, I've worn mine for decades!”

 

“Black is slimming! And your ass would look,” Tony kissed his fingers and gestured broadly.

 

“Tony, geez!” Steve shifted uncomfortably but looked pleased.

 

**V: Wow. I can smell the kink negotiation from here.**

 

_E: V, I don't think they're quite there yet._

 


	22. Chapter 22

Eddie sat in what felt like a dentist chair with Banner fussing about with a fuselage. He filled a syringe and headed for Eddie only to be stopped by a web shot at him from an anxious Venom.

 

“Oh, whoa!” Eddie held up a hand, “You sure this will work?”

 

“The only reason we had issues before was because I only had degraded samples to work with. Now that I had real samples to work with this shouldn't have any negative effects on you or your unborn... offspring.”

 

“Shouldn't?” Eddie clarified.

 

“That's the problem with science. It isn't perfect. I can't promise you no side effects whatsoever. It's this or we leave you unbonded.”

 

**V: Eddie. If we aren't genetically bonded when my seed blossoms than it won't absorb enough of your DNA to survive in this atmosphere. It will need a host.**

 

_E: Is that a bad things?_

 

**V: It is restrictive.**

 

_E: I don't know, V. The first serum might have effected them, too. This could reverse whatever was done. I think we should risk it._

 

**V: Agreed.**

 

“Okay,” Eddie let out a slow breath and held out his arm, looking away from the needle as his arm was prepped and the shot administered into his muscle.

 

“We'll wait here until we're sure that-” He started, but Venom and Eddie had let out a collective breath of relief, “Good?”

 

“It's like my heart stopped beating out of time,” Eddie replied, rubbing at his chest and then sitting up and looking at his hands.

 

Venom manifested the upper half of a torso behind him and wrapped strong arms around Eddie's shoulders. Their fingers twined together and Eddie let his head fall back against Venom's shoulder. He felt such absolute calm and love that he could easily fall asleep right then and there.

 

**V: Eddie. We want to leave now.**

 

_E: Right. Yeah, let's go._

 

“Well, it's been fun, doc,” Eddie spoke as Venom slid into his body once more, “Time for me to get outta dodge.”

 

He froze as he turned to see a sad look on Banner's face and sighed, shaking his head at the man.

 

“Tell her,” He advised him, “You got nothing to lose.”

  
“How about her?”

 

“Trust me,” Eddie replied, as Venom turned himself into a handsome leather jacket, “She can take care of herself, but being alone? She doesn't deserves that.”

 


	23. Chapter 23

The difficulty with having been accused of a crime, arrested, biting a guy's thumb off, nearly dying in prison, ending a riot, being pardoned, and asked to form a task force with the FBI was that he couldn't just quietly ride off into the sunset to have his gay alien goo baby in peace. He had to _hide_ while they were vulnerable, and as much as Venom hated it, that meant hanging out with the Avengers. They had a big ass hanger type building that they were letting Venom crash at, which meant he wasn't completely surrounded by Stark and his lackeys.

 

Venom was anxious about his impending birth, but his concern was for their safety while Eddie was slowly beginning to trust them. He had a week until he was going to begin working for the FBI and some sort of task force. They had hinted that Eddie's wasn't the only symbiote in the world, and Venom had been most perturbed. Neither suspected that their own bundle of joy was who they spoke of. The FBI and the Avengers didn't work closely together, and Tony had personally assured him, with a seriousness in his eyes that Eddie had not seen before, that their secret was safe.

 

They spent the time together bonding once more. They spent their time with soft words, gentle caresses, and a fulfilling and luxurious pleasure that overwhelmed them both. He and Venom had lost their hesitance, if ever Venom had had any in the first place. Now he asked for his husband's touch. Now he lay there and screamed in pleasure while rippling muscles of inky blackness bent over him and grasped his shoulders. Tears of overwhelming bliss flowed down his cheeks as thick tentacles filled his ass, a thin one slid inside his cock to reach the most exquisite spot there, and another mimicked chocking him as it slid past his lips. He'd never really choke. Venom cherished him so. Above him lips stretched across razor sharp teeth, leering down at him as if he were so much meat to be devoured and yet every kiss was tender and loving.

 

In contrast to the near violence of their lovemaking the birth of their first child was swift, easy, and practically effortless. One day he felt Venom shifting about outside of his skin more than usual. It woke him up from a doze in a chair where he'd been reading a book. He startled up when he saw Venom writhing and bulging out in odd spots.

 

“Fuck, Venom, is this it? Are we-”

 

Before he could finish his sentence Venom went stiff across his body and then sank into his skin leaving behind... a black blob the size of a cantaloupe with orange stripes. Eddie stared at the goo on his abdomen in hopeful wonder and then reached down to scoop it up gently.

 

“Hello?” He whispered softly, “I'm your dad, well... one of them. Are you... are you alright?”

 

A red eye blinked open. Then another. Then two more in quick succession and Eddie found himself laughing through tears. Little tentacles reached out to poke at his face as he pressed kisses to the little goo-by's face. A name slid through his mind and Eddie was up and power-walking through the big facility until he reached the room of the one who would understand this the most. Eddie banged on a door and it opened for him.

 

“Look, look,” He beamed, “Meet Sleeper. Meet my _son.”_

 

Tony blinked in confusion at him and rubbed at his eyes, “It's two in the morning.”

 

“Yeah, well, you don't get to pick your delivery time, so...”

 

“Why are you showing _me_?” Tony asked, looking confused as he studied the blob in Eddie's hands that was lazily waving at him.

 

“Because you're the only one here with a son,” Eddie replied.

 

“I don't have a son. Who told you I have a son?”

 

“Isn't Peter your son?”

 

“No, Peter's not related to me at all.”

 

Brock scowled at him and pulled Sleeper closer, “He doesn't have to be related to you to be your _son,”_ Eddie turned and strode back towards his rooms, “We'll be out in the morning!”

 

“Happy Birthday!” Tony called back, more than a bit baffled as he shut the door. He'd been sleeping at headquarters while Brock was present, determined to be nearby in case the man went ballistic, but so far all he'd done was have _very_ loud tentacle sex with his alien husband and have a _baby_ alien. That apparently breathed air. _Which meant it didn't need a host._

 

“Oh, shit.”

 

 


	24. Chapter 24

So. An explanation. I've obviously played fast and loose with Marvel, various comics, the movie, and my own ridiculous imagination. I hated Civil War, so I've cut it out completely and replaced it with this bollocks. Sorry to you Tony fans who thought he was evil, he's not, this is just Brock's view of him and Brock's anti-capitalist. I almost threw in the What If verse where he bonds with Deadpool, but it felt like too much. Now for the epilogue!

 

 

Sleeper was, undoubtedly, the most adorable and mischievous son in the world. He'd found out early on that he could spray a chemical at Eddie that would make _both_ parents pass out cold for a good ten minutes. That was just enough time to sneak out of the house, the little shit. Otherwise their goo-by was more content to lounge in various containers and eat copious amounts of chocolate, but his adventures outside were worrisome. Venom feared that the hive memories of their culture had infected their son and that he would become corrupt and evil as Venom had been raised to be. Like Riot had been. The realization that Riot was also Venom's child had been a blow to Eddie. Apparently each successive offspring became more powerful, but they maintained a connection to their sire. Riot's need to get Venom on the rocket hadn't been out of unity, but because he'd needed the bond they shared. They were a communal species and being alone was beyond unhealthy.

 

As Sleeper grew his mind-bond with Venom became stronger and soon Eddie could 'feel' and 'hear' him as well. As such, he didn't get a first word so much as a first _sentence_.

 

It was “Get me more chocolate, father,” and Eddie couldn't have been more proud.

 

Sleeper traveled with them and was an unbelievable asset. He could slip into small areas and travel through vents without the risk of suffocation that Venom faced if without a host for too long. He gathered information and gassed room occupants so that they could slip in and arrest enemies without danger. His chemicals even worked on most aliens, but so far Sleeper was the only symbiote they had come across, and most people thought that Sleeper wasn't a separate symbiote but a new ability of Venom's. They liked it that way and Sleeper hid his yellow/green color differences and stayed wrapped up in his slimy father. In this way Eddie became his son's first host- albeit in a very different context than his relationship with Venom.

 

After a few weeks Sleeper began learning more abilities and Eddie found out that he could become _completely_ invisible for short periods of time. This was another thing that Venom wasn't capable of, although his lover was getting better at forming more realistic human faces. This was a talent that Eddie adored and praised and Sleeper sucked it up. He was very much a spoiled little brat, but the symbiote and Eddie couldn't be more proud.

 


	25. Chapter 25

Eddie was not a part of the Avengers, but it didn't stop them from calling him in when alien ships appeared in Earth space. They even came to get him, scooping him up in San Francisco and taking him all the way to Wakanda and a fucking _war._ Eddie took one look at it all and made like Bilbo Baggins in the War of Five Armies and disa-fucking-peared. He wasn't a coward, he was just practical and utilizing all his options. He stalled for as long as possible, keeping himself alive as he worked his way through the battle field taking off enemy heads. He tried to stay close to the others, to watch their backs, but he was better at street fighting than war. This was too much. Too terrifying. Eddie stared around himself at the bloodshed and felt real fear for the first time since Venom had caught him when he was falling from a skyscraper and he'd realized that his beloved would never let him down. Eddie was many things- a thug, an investigative reporter, a criminal, and now an FBI agent- but he was no soldier and he felt almost numb as he watched Venom and Sleeper fight this battle.

 

_E: This is wrong. Venom, Sleeper is just a baby. If I'm basically dissociating seeing all this, what is it doing to him?_

 

**V: Making him STRONGER!**

 

_E: All this and Thanos isn't even here!_

 

No sooner had the thoughts crossed his mind than lightning and rainbows flew down from the sky and the God of the Lesbians himself appeared. Thor, hammer restored, fuming mad and sporting a butch haircut that didn't suit him at all, launched himself at the unending masses of warriors and gave them all renewed strength and hope.

 

For a time they felt like they were winning. One of the Xhosa soldiers was chanting and Venom joined in because it sounded awesome as fuck. He had been told that they were shielding a weapon from Thanos, so eventually he would show to get it, but neither Venom nor Brock had been let in on what it was. So when he was called to Captain America's side to find them guarding a scepter he was more than a bit unimpressed. It was impressive, sure, but he'd seen them defeat Loki when he wielded it, so how amazing could it be? Hell, a young woman was trying to destroy a yellow stone within the scepter, and she was very nearly succeeding.

 

However, that was before a blue, cloudy circle allowed a man in neon purple to walk through to their world. Steve charged first, but Banner reached him before hand. No matter. He was passed through and thrown like so much light weight. Then Steve, then the Black Panther, and then in quick succession it was soon only the three of them: Eddie, Venom, and Sleeper. Sleeper had, instinctively, gone invisible, but he couldn't hold it forever. Their son was trying so hard to keep them hidden while Eddie wracked his brain for a plan. Thanos approached the sceptor and the shaking, frightened young woman who was blasting it with faltering red power. Some great sadness held back her strength, something Venom couldn't fathom. Death was all around them and Thanos was nearly there and they were so _weak_.

 

Just as hope seemed beyond them she won, destroying the stone and cheering in relief. Venom was knocked to the ground, Eddie barely conscious, their shrieking mass of child frightened and angry in turns. Eddie could feel Sleeper raging at the sight of his heroes fallen, could feel Venom's urge to flee to protect Eddie from an uncertain future. Venom seemed to sense something worse on the horizon despite the apparent victory before them.

 

The young woman stood and turned towards Thanos, face contorted in continued misery despite her win, “This stone took my brother's life. Now it can't hurt anyone _any more.”_

 

“Oh, child,” Thanos spoke softly, “I have experienced more grief today than you have ever known. But now is not the time to mourn. Now is no time at all.”

 

**S: NOT WEAK!**

 

**V: NO! LITTLE ONE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!**

 

_E: WAIT!_

 

Sleeper leaped away from them as Thanos tossed the weakened girl aside and waved his gauntlet to reverse time and restore the scepter. He removed the yellow stone with frightening ease, placed it in his hand, and threw even Thor aside as if he were _nothing_. An ax to the chest was a joke to him.

 

“You should have gone for the _head,”_ Thanos mocked, lifting a hand and that cursed gauntlet.

 

**S: WE WILL GLADLY DO SO!**

 

Black and yellow-green slime oosed down Thanos' unguarded head and into his eyes. Before his thumb and middle finger could touch blood spurted out of his tear ducts and Thanos went eerily still.

 

“What happened?” Thor asked, “Where did your scum go?”

 

“Sleeper?!” Eddie croaked, horrified and afraid for his son.

 

Blackness moved over the body and Thor reacted quickly, pulling the gauntlet off of his hand before the symbiote could cover it, but Sleeper wasn't interested in the gauntlet. He had enough power in the body he had just taken for his own to impress him without toys.

 

“ **So much memory, so much information, so very different from the little cage my parents kept me in.”**

 

“Hey now,” Brock stepped forward, “Steady, Sleeper, that's... you have to understand. Hosts can influence their symbiotes. You just landed yourself in someone _fucked up._ We've got the gauntlet. Come back to daddy and dad.”

 

“ **No,”** Sleeper replied easily, voice higher than Venom's, “ **This body has resources and is strong. Besides, how will a mind that is gone influence me?”**

 

“What did you do?” Thor asked, pausing in alarm with his ax held over the gems he was about to destroy.

 

“ **Labotomized him,”** Sleeper stated, “ **A fitting end for a man that thought too much but realized too little. Instead of destroying half the population, why not use so much power to feed the half that starve? Or move them to planets with more resources? Or strengthen the atmospheres that are damaged?”**

 

“Yeah! That's my baby!” Brock cheered, “That's thinking outside the capitalist agenda!”

 

“Really?” Captain America asked breathlessly, “Now?”

 

Brock shrugged, “What do you want? I'm not a hero, remember? I'm an anti-hero. Your problems just got solved, you're going to complain? I didn't even have to bite his head off.”

 

Sleeper turned away from them, sinking into his new body as he went, and began to walk towards the battle.

 

“Hey, where you going?” Brock called after his son.

 

“ **I have an army to call off,”** Sleeper purred, then paused and faced them, reaching out a gigantic hand to touch their cheek, “ **I know that I have had an unusual childhood. My fathers raised me with love and taught me to think and question the world around me. Most Klytar are simply... left to fend for themselves like sea turtles on a beach that they must soon dry out and die upon if not swooped up by hungry seagulls.”**

 

**V: He gets that flowery shit from you.**

 

_E: Yeah, I know._

 

Eddie sniffled, “You're leaving. Already. When are we going to see you again?”

 

“ **Don't know,”** Sleeper leaned down and put their foreheads together for a moment, “ **Goodbye, fathers. You have raised me well and now I go to teach these followers of Thanos what free will truly is. The stars call me and I would answer.”**

 

Eddie's lip trembled as he watched his child move away, shouting to his armies to return to their ships, calling off the battle, baffling the soldiers on Earth's side who watched him move without fear through their ranks.

 

“Holy shit,” Eddie whimpered as Venom's upper half pealed away to form a torso hovering behind and to his right. Strong hands gripped his shoulders, “They grow up so fast. Did we do okay? I mean, he lobotomized a guy, but it was a bad guy, like a _really_ bad guy, so that's okay, right?”

 

“ **We are good parents, Eddie, to this and future offspring.”**

 

“Future... wait, what?” Eddie blinked at him.

 

“ **Quit sniveling. You're embarrassing us,”** Venom chided, vanishing back into his body and then covering him with his warm presence.

 

“Yo, no way, you don't get out of this that easily. What future offspring? Venom. VENOM! Don't you ignore me you black menace!! VENOM!”

 


	26. Chapter 26

AFTER CREDITS

 

Andromedan wine, as it turned out, was incredibly strong stuff. Strong enough that when Stark woke up he had absolutely no idea where he was or who he was with. He remembered, vaguely, that he'd gone to outer space and that there were people involved who pissed him off, just on a general basis, but he couldn't remember who they were. It took a while before he managed to blink enough sleep out of his eyes and consciousness into his head to see the man snoring away in the bunk between himself and the wall. He was handsome in a space-pirate sort of way, but if Tony had expected to have some sort of gay crisis he'd have expected it to be with _Steve Rogers,_ not... what the fuck was the name of the fuck up from the battle with Thanos?

 

“Quill,” Stark groaned, rolling over and puking out of the bunk.

 

“Tha's gross, man, you're cleaning that up,” Quill whined, rubbing at his head, “Holy shit, what did I drink? Why is my mouth all salty and gross?”

 

Tony puked again for good measure upon hearing that.

 

“Because,” A deep voice stated, “You have consumed much of my seed. It has quite the potent after taste.”

 

Stark pushed himself up and looked past Quill to see a large man with ridiculous muscles sling an arm around Quill's hip. Quill lay on his back staring up at him with a slightly surprised look on his face.

  
“You mean to tell me that instead of banging the billionaire, I took your cranky, uninspired ass to bed?”

 

“I am quite certain that it was I who took your ass to bed,” Drax stated firmly, “However, it is not uncommon for soldiers in war to seek the comfort and satisfaction of other warriors. You should know that I still find you repulsive and annoying to listen to.”

 

“Oh good, broheads are cool with me,” Quill nodded, “No pressure. I can dig it.”

 

Stark dragged himself out of the bunk, avoided the puke, and made his half-dressed way towards the front of the ship. The raccoon was sipping on a hot cup of something that smelled like garbage and humming to himself. Tony took pride in the fact that his ass felt normal and the only taste in his mouth was vomit. He also still had a major case of blue balls, so apparently even being a spectator to... whatever the fuck had happened back there... hadn't been inspiring to him.

 

“Can you hail Earth yet?” Tony asked sharply.

 

“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter's peppy voice chirped.

 

“No talking. Too early for talking, especially until your voice drops.”

 

“Sorry, sir,” Peter whispered.

 

The raccoon was tapping at the console, grumbling about inconsiderate guests, when he finally got a signal up.

 

“You want us to try your ex girlfriend again?” Rocket taunted.

 

“Please, no,” Yet another voice chided, “This is already humiliating enough. Don't make us watch you grovel for a woman who doesn't want you.”

 

“Shut up,” Tony snapped, “You didn't have to give him your magic teleportation stone. I was completely content to die there. And no, I don't want to talk to- Pepper! Hi!”

 

Pepper's face was on screen and she looked confused, “Is that a raccoon?”

 

“No!” The raccoon snapped angrily.

 

“Hey, Pepper, glad you're alive, sorry for the imposition, but my clever and sentient friend here dialed the wrong number.”

 

“That's the one you've been begging me to call for a solid week!” Rocket raged.

 

“I need to talk to Steve Rogers, please. Is he there?”

 

“Uh, yeah. Gimme a second.”

 

It was a solid three minutes before Steve's worried frown appeared.

 

“Iron Man! Thank goodness you're-”

 

“At the risk of sounding Pete's age, will you be my boyfriend?”

 

“Sorry?”

 

“Yeah, I'm having some sort of midlife crisis that involves admitting I'm bisexual. I'm done running from it, especially if it means I end up watching gay alien pirate live action porn and _still_ not enjoying it.”

 

“Are you drunk again? You look- and sound- drunk.”

 

“No, I'm not, and I'm never, ever touching alcohol again. Ever.”

 

“Okay. I'm... flattered?”

 

“I know you grew up in the age of gay bashing,” Stark stated, gesturing consolingly with his hand, “But I assure you it's totally acceptable now. Most churches are even fine with it, I mean, it's practically in!”

 

“Okay,” Tony looked confused and he was walking slowly through a hallway, “Okay that's... good to know.”

 

“Anyway, just... think about it, okay?”

 

“I don't have to,” He replied hesitantly.

 

“Yeah, you do, because that's a rejection voice and I always tell people to think about it when I hear that tone of voice and then they do and then they agree with me that I'm right, because I'm always right.”

 

“It's fine, Tony.”

 

“What's fine? Me? My ass? Because I prefer to top, but I will do that if it's what you-”

 

“Jesus, Tony! Not in front of the... friends you have there!” Steve hissed, “We'll talk about this when you get back.”

 

“Will there be more than talking?” Tony tried.

 

There was a moment of silence and even through the grainy connection he could see the blush forming on Steve's cheeks, “Yeah, maybe, but-”

 

“YES!” Tony punched the air and managed to hit his knuckles hard, “Ow! Fuck!”

 

“Language!”

 

“Sorry!” Tony laughed, shaking his hand out, “Sorry, yeah, I'll work on it. Anything to nab a boyscout like you.”

 

“Just... come home safely,” Steve replied, still red in the face. He disconnected the call and Tony let out a low sigh of relief.

 

“Wow, that was almost worth fucking Drax while you snored and farted nearby,” Quill announced.   
  


“I fucked you,” Drax inserted.

 

“Way to finally make a move, grandpa,” Quill slow clapped.

 

“Grandpa!” Tony snarled.

  
“Congrats, Mr. Stark,” Peter smiled fondly up at him from where he was perched on a wall.

 

“Thanks, kid,” Tony ruffled his hair.

 


End file.
